


Take from me whatever you want

by Holisticgay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Also sorry if you came for thay smut tag, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Hurt Lance (Voltron), It was an accident theres no smut at all, M/M, Major Character Injury, Major Character Undeath, Vampire Keith (Voltron), fluff is in later chapters hold on tight, it fits so well, klance, lmao i didnt know that was a tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-06-07 08:50:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15215498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holisticgay/pseuds/Holisticgay
Summary: It’s so good. So fucking good and it might be because he hasn’t ate in over a month, or it might just be because it’s Lance, but Keith swears he’s never tasted anything so delicious. He growls and pushes harder, feeling the blood fill his mouth as he drinks it in. God, he can’t believe he’s gone his whole life without tasting anything like this. No cold bag of blood will ever be able to sate him after this. It’s intoxicating.Keith’s eyes roll back into his head as he continues to drink, and everything around him disappears for moment. He vaguely feels Lance’s head sag and his shoulders go limp, but he can’t bring himself to stop.





	1. Chapter 1

Keith is gonna die. 

 

Well, not that he hasn’t already, but now he’s gonna die a  _ second  _ time. And it’s going to be worse than the first. He can already tell by the way all of his muscles and bones ache like they’re all being pulled apart from each other; by the way he can’t even eat normal food anymore without throwing up as soon as it so much as hits his tongue, dry heaving for hours after. 

It’s never gotten this bad before- the longest he’s gone without eating was a week, and all that did was make him a bit sluggish. 

They’ve been in space for over a month. Over a month with no way for him to eat unless he tells the team what he is. What he needs.  

He’s gonna die. 

He can either keep it to himself, and die. 

Or tell them, and scare them… and die. 

Because, honestly, who wouldn’t freak out when they find out vampires are real and one just so happens to be on their team. In desperate need of a few good sips of their blood, too. 

So yea. He’s gonna die. 

  


 

 

“Keith, cover me!” Someone shouts to his left. Or maybe it’s his right? He can’t tell who or where the person is, everything’s too fuzzy and he can’t concentrate. 

“Dude, come on! Quit slacking off!” Another shout, closer now but still an echo in his head. He crouches back down into a fighting stance, but he can’t get his limbs to move fast enough when the training bot in front of him strikes. He aims for it’s chest, but it misses and the bot’s own staff hits him in the ribs, causing him to fly sideways and fall to the ground. 

“End simulation!” There’s a pair of hands on him now, helping him stand but he’s too dizzy to open his eyes to check who it is. “Are you okay?” 

Oh, that’s Lance. 

“Mmmhm.” Keith manages to straighten his legs and takes a few wobbly steps out of Lance’s arms before he almost falls again and the hands are right back on his shoulders, making sure he doesn’t hit the ground. 

“I’m gonna take him to the lounge for a break! Keep goin’ without us!” Lance calls and there’s a few worried questions thrown their way but no one stops them as Lance leads them out of the training room. “Dude, Keith, you gotta stop overworking yourself.” Lance’s voice sounds softer and more concerned than Keith has ever heard it. Well, more than he’s ever sounded when Keith is the subject of conversation. 

“‘M fine.” 

“Oh no, no no no. You’re not fine. Here, sit down. I’m gonna go get you some water and a snack. Don’t move.” Lance sets him down on the couch- when the hell did they reach the lounge? He presses a hand against Keith’s shoulder for a few seconds, and after he’s sure Keith isn’t going to try getting up again, he hums and leaves the room. 

A few minutes later, Lance comes back and drops an armful of goodies on the couch and starts sifting through it. With how fast it had taken him, Keith knows Lance must have ran to the kitchen and back and he huffs out a small laugh at the thought. 

“Here drink this.” Lance grabs Keith’s hand and opens it to place a food-goo pouch in his palm but he feels too weak to lift his arm up and just let’s it drop beside him. “ _ Dude _ .” 

“I jus’ need to sleep.” Keith can practically  _ hear  _ Lance giving him a dirty look at his words but doesn’t care as he leans further back into the couch and closes his eyes.

“Yea, uh… no, you need to eat something first.” He can feel Lance moving beside him but Keith doesn’t register the pouch being removed from his loose grip or the sound of it being ripped open. “Here.” Lance’s voice is soft again and Keith is ready to tell him to  _ stop babying him  _ when the pouch is held up to Keith’s mouth and he almost vomits just from the smell. 

“No!” Keith shoves Lance away and stands up, legs finally ferm with adrenaline caused by the need to get away from that disgusting food. 

“Wha-! No!? Keith you need to eat!” Lance stands up and tries to hand it back to him but Keith impulsively hits it out of his hands. Lance just stares at the spilled packet on the ground, goo splattered all over the floor and up the leg of the coffee table and sighs. “Cool.”

“I can’t-” Keith feels another rush of pain ring through his body and he’s just… He’s just  _ so fucking hungry. _

“Keith?” Lance whispers and, fuck, now he’s close. Far too close, and his hands are back on Keith’s shoulders again, trying to keep him steady but it’s  _ not helping _ . Keith tries to calm down, he really does, but he can feel Lance’s blood pulsing through the fingers on his burning skin and he’s  _ so close _ he can smell it in his veins and if he just leans in fast enough Lance wouldn’t even have time to react and Keith could just- 

“I can’t!” He pushes Lance away again with enough force to throw him to the ground, and takes off towards his room. He just needs to sleep. He’ll be okay after he sleeps for a bit. It’ll be okay. 

  
  


 

 

He does end up feeling better when he wakes up later that night. He’s slept a few hours longer than he’s slept since he was a kid, and it’s a bit disorienting, but he’s okay. He’s… as okay as he can get, he figures. He still doesn’t have too much energy so he just stays in bed and follows the thin blue lights around the walls with his eyes like a maze he’s trying to map out. Like finding the exit will reward him with the answers he needs to survive.

It’s almost funny, actually. How Lance was acting like Keith was dying. And, yea, he is. But not because of any reason Lance, or the others, could ever imagine. 

Maybe, during their next mission, Keith could just… get himself killed. Then it would seem like an accident and not because he’s already dying from hunger. Plus, he wouldn’t have to suffer like this anymore. 

But he can’t. He knows he can’t. He wouldn’t be able to go through with it because, as much as he hates himself for what he is, he doesn’t actually want to die at all. He just wants to  _ eat _ , dammit. Maybe he really should just tell someone. Would Coran be able to create a substitute for human blood? It probably wouldn’t be healthy to live off something like that, but if he could just manage until they get back to Earth then he’d be fine.

He can do it. 

He was strong enough to last this long, he’s not giving up yet. 

 

  
  
  


 

It’s well past their scheduled breakfast time when Keith finally emerges from his room. He had been awake when Shiro had knocked on his door to tell him breakfast was ready, but being around food is something he  _ isn’t  _ strong enough to handle at the moment, so he stays quiet and hopes Shiro doesn’t try to enter the room. 

He doesn’t, and Keith successfully avoids disaster. 

He slowly makes his way down the long empty hallways, not really thinking of a destination but not wanting to stay cooped up in his room all day. He doesn’t want to be around the others incase more hunger pains erupt in his stomach, but the small dorm-like rooms of the castle are making him claustrophobic and he needs a change of scenery. 

He doesn’t notice his senses are dulled down to practically nothing until he’s right outside the doors to the training room and he can hear someone inside. His heightened abilities should have allowed him to be able to hear it a few hallways back, even through the thick metal walls, but he’s weak and doesn’t have the energy to focus on sounds. 

The motion sensored doors open automatically and he freezes and two pairs of eyes turn to look at who arrived. His own eyes are drawn automatically to Lance. His expression is blank and Keith doesn’t know what to make of it because he’s always so expressive. It feels wrong for Lance to not be showing any emotion. 

“Keith!” Pidge shouts from where she’s standing over a destroyed bot and Keith’s gaze locks onto her as she starts walking towards him. “I hope you weren’t planning on training, you were pretty out of it yesterday, you should still be resting.” 

“No, I- I was just walking, I didn’t come here to train.” Keith takes a step back as she gets closer. She’s breathing hard, well worn from training, and Keith’s brain supplies him with the thought that she would be too tired to fight him off if he tried to feed. “I should… I’m gonna go-”

“Wait!” Lance calls and he freezes again, eyes wide as he watches Lance pull the end of his shirt up to wipe sweat off of his face. Any other time, Keith would have had a hard time tearing his eyes away because of a chance to soak in the sight of Lance’s toned stomach, but now his reasoning isn’t caused by dumb hormones. 

“You didn’t show up to dinner or breakfast. We should go make sure you get something to eat.” Lance says as he starts for the door. Keith isn’t even able to focus on the scent of blood anymore, too caught up in the large bruise on Lance’s side even though his shirt is covering it again. “C’mon, Hunk and Coran found these weird flavoring tubes in a storage room. They just put them in the goo machine and different flavors come out. One even tastes like strawberries. It’s a bit sour though, like they were picked before they were ripe, but it’s still-” 

Keith reaches out as soon as Lance is passing by him, grabbing the end of his shirt and lifting it up. 

“Uh… W-what are you doing?” 

“What happened? You’re long ranged, why did you let a bot get so close to you?” Keith runs a finger over the dark bruise before quickly pulling away when Lance winces, letting the shirt fall down again

“Wasn’t from a bot.” Pidge supplies, arms crossed over her chest and glaring at Keith. “He got it when you pushed him last night and he fell into the coffee table.” Keith looks at Lance with wide eyes but Lance is staring at the ground, a look of guilt on his face as if it was his fault in the slightest. 

“Lance, I’m-” 

“Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t hurt that much.” He mumbles and starts walking down the hall, going the opposite direction of the kitchen. 

“Ugh, he’s such a bad liar. You should have seen him this morning, all hunched over like he couldn’t stand up straight without being in pain.” Pidge rolls her eyes as she makes her way past Keith as well. She stops for a moment a couple yards away, turning back to give him a worried look, all anger at him hurting Lance wiped from her face. “You really should eat, though. Needa’ keep your energy up and all that.” 

Yeah, Keith thinks as she walks away, He knows. 

  
  


****

  
  
  


A few days go by and Keith’s condition isn’t any better at all, but the pain hasn’t gotten worse. No,  _ instead _ , because every higher being hates him and wants to make this even harder for him to hide, he loses the control to keep his fangs retracted around others. Most of the time it’s fine, he’s able to keep the attention off him by standing out of everyone’s vision. It’s normal for him, so thankfully no one asks questions. 

They do look curious everytime someone does get close enough to him and he has to rush out of the room as fast as he can because the smell of blood has his fangs poking out instantly. He could probably try holding them back in if he tried hard enough. But, he knows, energy is not a thing he has the privilege to waste. 

Besides, the castle is huge and avoiding the others is no hard task. Missions are easy to handle as well, as he’s usually stuck in his own lion, or fighting on the field alone while the others are too distracted by their own battles to pay attention to him. 

So it’s not an issue. Everything’s fine.

 

 

Right up until the alarm goes off, and he has to rush to the control room; still too frustratingly low on energy to make it there in time to not get scolded. 

“Keith, we do practice drills for a reason.” Allura begins as soon as he steps through the doors, drawing everyone’s confused eyes. He’s  _ never  _ late. “I know you haven’t been feeling well, but this is serious. Please don’t let it happen again.” 

Keith nods and she drops the subject, deciding she spent way too much time on his tardiness and diving into their new mission. It’s nothing new; some planet that sent out a distress signal because of the Galra. He doesn’t pay attention- He  _ can’t focus enough  _ to pay attention- but he figures it’ll just be them in their separate lions and shooting down enemy ships like always. 

When she stops speaking and everyone starts dispersing, Keith heads straight to Red; he’ll just change into his paladin suit while she’s on autopilot towards the planet. 

“Uhhh, where ya goin’?” Lance asks as he bounces up to Keith. His tone is light and teasing, as if Keith hasn’t obviously been avoiding him for days. He just shrugs. 

“Look,” Lance sighs out and grabs Keith’s arm to stop him from walking any further. “I know you don’t like me, and this is probably gonna  _ suck _ , but can we please just do this without fighting? I know you like to do things alone but this isn’t something you can do on your own.” 

Keith tenses at his words, trying desperately to find out what the hell he’s talking about without asking. It might just be because it’s currently all that’s on his mind, but it sounds like Lance is talking about Keith’s hunger, and he’s about ready to break. 

“Keith? Are you even listening? Allura’s gonna be mad if you try to take your lion, dude.” He lets go and crosses his arms, giving Keith an annoyed look. 

“Uh… what?” 

“Are you serious? She told you your lion isn’t as good underwater. There’s no way you’ll make it in and out before the alarms go off. Besides, no matter how strong you think you are, you still need me as backup. And as much as I hate to admit it, but having you there to cover me would make me a lot less anxious, so let’s just go.” Lance glares at him before pushing past him and heading into the hanger and into Blue who’s already waiting with her mouth open. 

It finally hits Keith that, no, this isn’t like the other missions. Apparently he’s teaming up with Lance in Blue. This is fine. He can do this. 

Being in close proximity with living, breathing, blood filled Lance for an indefinite amount of time? Nooooo problem. 

“Are you coming or what!?” Lance shouts from the ramp before disappearing inside and Keith jolts back to reality, grabbing his Paladin suit from his locker and rushing into Blue before they take off.

  
  


Their mission, Lance explains to him, is to infiltrate a Galra base that’s underwater and shut down the communication lines so they can’t call for backup when Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge destroy the base after Keith and Lance make their getaway. Keith isn’t as mad about being stuck with Lance, now, so much as he’s upset he can’t help blow up the base. Oh well, as long as he’s doing  _ something  _ to help free the people on the planet, he supposes. 

He changes in the back of the head while Lance pilots them towards their destination, struggling a bit to pull each piece on without using up the rest of his energy. He’s a bit pissed at this whole situation when he gets done, and he’s ready to start complaining, but as soon as he reaches the front of the control station, every bad word that was in his head disappears. 

He’s always been a space person. The ocean on Earth never interested him at all. But, hell, if it’s even half as beautiful as the ocean on this planet is, he thinks he’d be down to explore it whenever they get back. If he lasts long enough to get back. 

“Pretty amazing, huh?” Lance asks from the pilot seat, a fond look on his face as he looks out ahead of them at the vast sea. Keith doesn’t reply until a few moments later when an unnervingly large serpent looking creature swims by, the fins on its back glowing a bright green and the rest of it’s body covers in pink spots of light from the beams of sun breaking the water’s surface. 

“Yeah.” He breathes out in awe. 

“We should come back down here after the mission is done.” Lance looks up at him now, that stupid fond smile still stuck on his face. “Actually explore it without the looming threat of Galra ahead of us, ya’know?” Keith opens his mouth to speak but he’s not sure he’d be able to manage any sounds when Lance is looking at  _ him  _ like  _ that _ , so he just nods. “Cool!” Lance grins before turning back to pay attention to where he’s going. 

It doesn’t take long to reach the base. Blue is impressively fast underwater, just as fast as Red is in the air. 

“We made it!” Lance shouts into the com and Pidge is already speaking before he finishes.

“Okay, good. There should be a small panel on the north side on the bottom that you guys will fit through. Let me know when you’re outside of it, I can only keep it unlocked for half a dobosh without it setting off an alarm, so you gotta be quick.” 

 

“Sure thing, Pidge.” Lance maneuvers Blue towards the panel and attaches her paws to the side of the base right above it. He puts his helmet on and it automatically seals itself shut to the suit. “You ready?” 

“Sure.” Keith says and puts his own helmet on. He leaves Blue first, in a rush to get finally get away from the overwhelming smell of Lance’s blood being too close. Lance follows a tick later and they swim down to the panel. “Pidge, we’re here.” 

There’s no reply on her end, but the small red light next to the handle changes from red to green, so Keith pulls it open and jumps in. 

“Door’s shut!” Lance calls as soon as he’s inside and then hits a button on the wall. There’s no labeling for what it is, and even if there was, Lance can’t read Galran, so Keith is about to yell at him for being dumb. The water starts draining before he can start, though. 

“How the hell did you know what that does?” He grumbles, glaring at Lance, who just shrugs. 

“The button to drain a room is always right next to the door, haven’t you seen any movies with subs or underwater facilities?” 

“You’re such an idiot.” Keith doesn’t have time for this. They just need to shut off the communication rooms and get out of there before his hunger  _ really  _ starts fucking with him and he runs out of energy. 

“Whatever.” Lance mumbles, the smile on his face gone in a second. “Pidge, which way do we go?” 

“The door in front of you should lead to a hallway, turn left when you leave the room.” Lance pushes past Keith to leave the room first, his bayard drawn and aimed in front of them, and Keith finally realizes he should at least get his out. 

 

They walk down countless hallways, only having to take out a few sentries, while listening to Pidge tell them which way to turn, before they finally reach the communications room. They’re somewhere in the middle of the base, and Keith has never felt more trapped in his life. Not only are they surrounded by the thick metal of the base, but there’s also all of the Galra soldiers and sentries walking around, and the miles of water outside. Not to mention Red is still in the Castle. 

“There’s two guards inside.” Lance whispers to him as he stretches his body to peek through the tiny window at the top of the door. It’s the perfect height for the Galra to see out of, but Lance’s normal human size doesn’t seem to cut it. “You keep watch while I go in and take care of them.” 

Lance moves to open the door, but Keith grabs his wrist. “ _ What _ ? Why do I have to keep watch?”

“Dude, are you really gonna argue about this? Just do it.” He tries to move again but Keith just tightens his grip. “Keith, let go, we don’t have time for this.” 

“Exactly, so let me go in first. I can take them down quicker.” Lance looks at him like Keith’s just said the worlds most offensive insult he’s ever heard and opens his mouth to talk but before he can, the door opens up behind him and effectively cuts him off. “ _ Shit _ .” 

Keith springs into motion fairly quick for a vampire who’s dying, and he almost gets hung up on how proud he is of his ability to act when needed, but manages to fully direct his attention to the Galra in the doorway. He activates his bayard as he jumps up, slicing through the Galra’s arm and forcing him deeper into the room. He can vaguely hear Lance and the second soldier fighting, but tries not to let it distract him. 

Despite his quick surge of energy when the door first opened, he feels it leave his body after his second attack, and misses his third. He receives a fist to his face, which knocks him to the ground far more easier than it would have a month ago- a week ago, even. The Galra draws the sword on his hip and is about to make Keith’s chest it’s new home and Keith closes his eyes, trying to convince himself it’ll be worth it. 

“ _ Keith _ !” Lance shouts from across the room, and there’s the sound of his bayard being fired, followed by a grunt and Keith opens his eyes in time to see the Galra over him stumble back and fall to the ground, a large hole in his chest. There’s another grunt behind him, and he turns around to check on Lance who- 

Lance who just left himself wide open during his own fight just to protect Keith who’s dying anyways.

Lance who now has a sword coming out of the side of his lower stomach, looking at Keith with wide watery eyes. 

Keith freezes for a tick, but when he hears the Galra behind Lance actually fucking  _ laugh _ , he loses it. His vision is hazy as he shoots up from the ground and rushes towards the Galra, too fast for him to realize Keith even moved before there’s a sword through his neck. He drops to the ground, dragging Lance down with him. Keith is still seething, still needing to kill something else- anything else to feed the anger he feels right now. 

“Keith?” Lance whispers, and he would have missed it if it wasn’t for the desperate hand trying to grab his leg to get his attention. 

“Shit… oh,  _ shit _ ..” Keith drops to the ground, sword falling next to him, and grabs Lance’s hand. “Lance? Lance, you’re gonna be okay, don’t worry.” He feels like he’s going to have a panic attack because,  _ shit _ . There’s a whole fucking sword through Lance’s body and he doesn’t know what to do. This is all his fault- if he hadn’t been so exhausted, so useless, Lance wouldn’t have had to risk his life just to save Keith’s own dumb ass. 

“Hello? Keith?” Shiro’s voice cracks through the com and it makes him jump. “What happened to Lance? What is there to worry about?” His voice is tight, already knowing something bad happened but probably not able to even think it’s something this bad because- 

“Lance was- Lance was stabbed and he’s-” He’s… 

“He’s okay, right? I mean- it’s not fatal is it?” Hunk sounds like he might throw up and, yea, Keith just might too because Lance has a sword through his fucking stomach and he’s... 

“He’s bleeding a lot.” Keith takes a deep, shaky breath and his grip on Lance’s hand tightens too much and he whimpers at the pain. Keith can feel his fangs now, fully out and dragging against the inside of his bottom lip. It’s just making it harder to hold himself back.  _ Fuck _ .

“Oh, fuck, okay, did you guys shut off the com for the base? You need to get him back  _ right now _ .” 

“Shiro I-” Lance is going to die because Keith doesn’t trust himself to move without just feeding off his own fucking teammate. Lance is going to bleed out and die and Keith won’t be able to move and he’ll either die from starving right there on the ground or another soldier will come and luckily kill him quickly. 

“Keith!” Pidge screams into the com and it sounds like she’s about to start crying. Or maybe she’s already crying. “Keith forget about the communication lines, just  _ please  _ get Lance out of there!”

“Yea- yea, Okay, I uh…” Don’t move, Don’t fucking move. 

_ “Now!”  _ Hunks angry voice finally breaks him out of his weak state of mind and jerks forward to pick Lance up, as carefully as he can. There’s no way he can take the sword out without making it infinitely worse, and it just makes it harder to carry him. Lance makes a loud choked up noise at being moved but doesn’t try to stop him. Not that he’d be able to if he did try.

“You- you’re always c-craddlin’ me, huh, Keith?” He whispers, followed by a cough that must hurt, judging by the way he grimaces and the tears in his eyes come faster. 

“Shut up. Just  _ shut up _ !” Keith snaps. He’s having enough trouble holding himself together long enough to get to Blue without doing something incredibly stupid, he doesn’t need to deal with Lance teasing him, too. 

“Right! Turn right up here!” Pidge yells and gets Keith’s mind back on track once again.

 

Reaching the Blue lion and getting Lance into a pod in time feels impossible. Keith is still hopped up on adrenaline but he’s feeling weaker and weaker the longer he runs. It’s hard to listen to Pidge yell directions while there’s so much blood; the smell thick and pungent in the air and so, so close. She has to repeat herself a few times and he can tell she’s getting angry with him but he can’t bring himself to care. He can’t worry about that when he has to focus on not hurting Lance anymore than he already is. 

He’s turned down about a dozen hall ways and a few staircases when she manages to find an empty elevator that runs to a storage room a couple floors above where their exit is, and overrides it so he can get on without it stopping on any other floors until he reaches the bottom. He’s thankful for the chance to rest his legs, but he still has to force himself to stay standing while holding Lance’s body so he doesn’t have to set him down just to pick him up again and risk jostling him around anymore than necessary. 

He isn’t thankful, not by a longshot, for having to stay still while holding Lance as he continues bleeding out. His helmet’s filtration system kicked in and is blocking out the scent, but the  _ sight  _ is no better than the smell. It only gets worse when Lance starts to squirm and groan in his arms, making the Sword shift and let more blood seep out.

“Stay  _ still _ .” Keith bites out. His jaw tightens and he squeezes his eyes shut, trying his best to calm down, when Lance raises a hand to grip weakly at Keith’s shoulder. 

“S-sorry I messed up.” He mumbles before dropping his hand once again. 

 

“It’s  _ fine _ , just stay still.” He takes a deep breath and risks a peek at Lance. “You’ll be fine.” He says, mainly to himself because his resolve is cracking- has been cracked since he first noticed the blood, but now he can’t seem to convince himself he won’t do something he’ll regret. Lance smiles softly up at him and Keith quickly looks back up, taking a deep breath as the doors open and pushes himself away from the wall he was leaning on to leave the elevator. 

“There’s another staircase to the right, it should lead down to the hall the exit is on.” Pidge sounds almost relieved but there’s still that heavy tone of worry in her voice. “There’s no security cameras in the stairs, so I don’t know if anyone else is in there, but Hunk’s keeping an eye on the doors in the halls and hasn’t seen anyone enter the starway.” 

Keith doesn’t bother replying. He quickens his pace and kicks open the door to the stairs, running down them as fast as he can force himself to go. Lance is bouncing in his arms and yells out in pain when the end of the sword grazes a wall but Keith doesn’t slow down. When he reaches the bottom floor and kicks open the door, his ears zone in on a noise further down the hall. 

“Pidge, there’s-”

“Galra!” Hunk yells, but it’s more of a sob and it makes Keith’s chest tighten. “ _ Run _ !” So he does. 

He’s just about to reach the door, when there’s a gunshot that just barely misses him and he almost drops Lance. “Pidge, the door!” The light turns green and he busts through it, not bothering to close it as he stumbles to balance Lance on one arm and a raised knee as he opens the hatch to outside. Pidge hasn’t finished unlocking it yet, causing the alarm to sound when he pulls the handle up, but no one cares. He needs to leave,  _ now _ . 

There’s another shot from behind him as the door is opening and it hits him in the leg, but as soon as the door cracks open the slightest, the push of the water outside busts through, sweeping the Galra behind him away as he holds onto the hatch as tight as he can. 

Lance whines out in his arms as he pushes him through the door, trying to be mindful of the sword and the size of the opening this time. Once they’re finally both out, he doesn’t have to do anything else as Blue roars and bends to pick them up in her mouth, pushing off the base and towards the surface before it even closes. 

“We’re in Blue.” Keith informs the team. Exhaustion hits him hard once he sets Lance down and he falls against the wall, arms wrapped around his own stomach.  _ He  _ hasn’t been stabbed, but it sure as hell feels like it. The searing pain in his body is too much and he lets out a loud groan of pain, clutching his skin tighter. 

“Keith?” Lance sobs out. He’s laying on his side and the arm he’s not on is stretched out towards Keith. “Keith, your leg… are you okay?” 

  
“Shut up.” Everything hurts so much. He’s never been in so much pain. “Shut up, shut up,  _ shut up _ !”

Lance goes silent for a few ticks before letting out another sob. Keith looks back up and his eyes are immediately drawn to the blood that’s pooling on the floor. He lets out another groan, this time because he knows he’s lost his battle. Keith takes his helmet off before hesitantly moving towards Lance. 

“I’m so sorry, Lance.” He reaches out to touch Lance, placing his hand on his shoulder and keeping him still. “I don’t want to hurt you, I swear, I just-”

“Hey,” Lance’s voice is so soft, it makes Keith feel sick. “It’s not your fault.” 

He lets out a sob, tears spilling out of his eyes as he leans forward to rest his head on top of his hand that’s still holding Lance’s shoulder still, his tight grip causing the armor to crack a little.. “I’m sorry.” 

“Keith, I’ll be fine. It’s o-” Lance inhales sharply as Keith moves his other hand to his head, tilting it to the side so he can reach Lance’s neck. “W-what are you-” Keith’s teeth sink in and Lance lets out a small whimper. His heart rate spikes up and it makes Keith groan as his blood pumps fast.  

It’s so good. So fucking good. It might be because he hasn’t ate in over a month, or it might just be because it’s  _ Lance _ , but Keith swears he’s never tasted anything so delicious. He growls and pushes harder, feeling the blood fill his mouth as he drinks it in. God, he can’t believe he’s gone his whole life without tasting anything like this. No cold bag of blood will ever be able to sate him after this. It’s intoxicating. 

Keith’s eyes roll back into his head as he continues to drink, and everything around him disappears for moment. He vaguely feels Lance’s head sag and his shoulders go limp, but he can’t bring himself to stop. 

Until he moves one of his hands right into a blood soaked part of Lance’s armor, and almost throws up right away as he flings himself away from the unconscious body. Oh, God. 

Oh,  _ God _ . Lance is still bleeding out from the sword in his fucking stomach and Keith just took even  _ more  _ blood out of him. How could he be so stupid?  _ So weak _ ?

Keith presses his back against the farthest wall away from Lance as he can and clamps a hand over his mouth, holding in the bile that’s threatening to rise. He needs to leave, he needs to get away from Lance and the Lion that smells of nothing but blood. Blood that he just fucking drank. He doesn’t know how he’ll ever be able to look in a mirror again. Let alone at Lance or even any of their other teammates.  

The Lion jolts as it finally lands in the hangar and Keith runs out without checking on Lance, pushing past the rest of the team waiting for them to land and heading straight for a bin by the wall to throw up. He feels a pair of arms wrap around him to help him stand and he’s so delirious all he can think of is when Lance helped him up a couple days before. 

“I’m so sorry.” He cries out and covers his mouth again to muffle his sobs. “You- You helped me and I just- Oh, fuck, I’m so sorry Lance-” 

“Hey, hey it’s not your fault.” Keith looks up and sees that it’s Shiro and not Lance that’s holding him. Of course. How would Lance be able to even stand right now, after Keith just did  _ that  _ to him? 

The thought has him choking on a sob and he pushes Shiro away and falls to the ground. He doesn’t seem fazed, though. He just picks Keith back up, ignoring his protests and exhausted shoves as he carries him out of the hanger and towards the medbay. 

They’re about halfway there when Keith finally gives up, feeling more dead than he’s ever been. Which, if he had it in him, he would have made a joke about, since he’s literally died before. But despite finally being full after over a month- he just feels so empty. There’s nothing left in him that’s encouraging him to keep going. Telling him it’ll be fine. 

All he can think about is what Lance’s reaction when he wakes up will be. If he’ll be terrified of Keith, or just disgusted. 

It’s not until he’s in the pod and the doors are closing when it hits him that he’s not even sure if Lance made it _. _ The stab wound made him bleed out so much and then Keith went and drained him even more. 

 

This, Keith thinks, is far,  _ far worse _ than dying a second time. 

  
  
  


  


 

  
  
  


When Keith falls out of the pod, naturally the first thing he notices is Shiro catching him. It takes a few ticks for him to notice that Shiro is speaking, and even longer to notice the red blinking lights and the sound of an alarm going off. 

“-kay? Keith?”

“Huh?” He narrows his eyes in concentration, trying to focus on what Shiro is saying. “I asked if you feel okay?” 

“I… I feel fine. How long was I in the pod?” Keith stands up on his own and Shiro looks terrified for a tick before confusion takes over his face.

“Less than half a varga. Which isn’t long enough to heal a gunshot so how are you  _ standing _ ?” 

Keith looks down at his leg and shakes it in the air a bit, feigning ignorance at how he managed to get healed so quickly. “Huh. That’s weird.” 

Shiro sighs and runs his hands down his face and walks to the control stand to shut the alarms off. “The pod went crazy when we put you in. We can’t figure out what happened. Your initial scan said there was poison in your system but your condition worsened when it started healing you. Are you sure you’re fine?” 

He opens his mouth to answer, try to convince Shiro that he really is fine and that the scan must have been wrong, but nothing comes out when he catches a sight of Lance’s pod. 

“He’s… He made it?” Keith wants to walk to the pod to get a closer look at him, but his feet won’t move. 

Shiro sighs and pulls up Lance’s monitor screen, everything showing him to be stable. “It was a close call, but he’s going to be fine. I’m glad you were out when we got him in here, honestly.” Keith gives him a questioning look, urging him to explain why. “He, uh… He woke up when we pulled the sword out. I don’t think he knew what was going on, but he wouldn’t stop screaming until the pod closed and put him to sleep.” 

“Oh..” Keith breaths out quietly and he would very much not like to hear anymore, but Shiro continues either way. 

“Coran had to close the wound up with these bandages first to make it heal properly, so it took longer than we could stand to hear. Hunk threw up and Pidge had to leave the room…. He called for you. A few times, actually. So maybe it _would_ have been better if you were there? You know, help make him feel more comfortable.” 

Keith’s eyes shoot wide open at that, gaze flitting between Shiro and Lance. “He… Called for  _ me _ ?” 

“Keith. You saved him. He would have died if you hadn’t got him out quick enough.” Shiro places a hand on his shoulder. It’s supposed to be comforting, but all it does is make him feel more disgusting and guilty than ever. He doesn’t deserve this praise. He hesitated too much to get Lance out. Not to mention  _ feeding off of him. _

“I need to go... lay down...” Keith steps out of Shiro’s hold and walks to the doors. Once he’s in the hallway, he starts running towards his room, planning on locking his door so he never has to face anyone again. 

It only takes a few doboshes to get there, and he hates himself even more for it. He wouldn’t have this energy, this speed, if he hadn’t fed off of Lance. If he hadn’t hurt him and almost cost him his life. He’s no longer in pain and the need to eat is completely gone, and the thought of  _ why  _ it’s gone makes him sick. He wishes he was still at least  _ a little bit  _ hungry; he would feel better if he had some sort of punishment for this. But he had taken too much from Lance to leave any room for hunger. To leave any room for him to feel glad he stopped. Because he  _ hadn’t _ . Not until it was too late. 

Hell, he shouldn’t have even done it in the first place.

He’ll just have to make it longer this time as punishment. He can do it. Knowing he hurt Lance once is enough to make him never want to eat again. 


	2. Chapter 2

Two quintants, 4 varga, and 36 doboshes pass before Keith finally leaves his room for the first time since running away from the medbay. Not that he was keeping track. Time seemed to meld together while he was hiding himself away from everyone. There had been a few times when someone had knocked on his door; either just to check if he was doing okay or asking if he would come out to eat with them. He never replied, just laid in bed and waiting for them to leave. The thought of leaving his room and having to face anyone after what he did made him sick with nerves.

But he’s not (part) human if he doesn’t have weak points in his life. One being late at night- sometime around 3 am on the castle’s set schedule, while everyone’s asleep and his resolve finally cracks and runs to see Lance.

He immediately brings up the screen for the pod that shows Lance’s vitals and watches the steady movement of his heartbeat for a few doboshes before looking up at his face. He doesn’t look dead anymore; his cheeks have their normal colorful glow back and his features are soft with no hint of pain like before. It still doesn’t make it any less hard seeing him, though.

With all his time spent alone in his room, ignoring every insistent attempt to talk from the others, Keith still hasn’t figured out what he’s going to do when Lance wakes up. He hadn’t been able to push his worries away long enough to think logically about how to handle it and seeing him again just makes his anxiety and guilt rise even more.

Keith finally manages to get his feet to move towards the pod, placing a hesitant hand to the glass before leaning his forehead on it as well.

“I’m sorry.” Keith whispers to the glass, keeping his eyes shut tight to hold in the tears although it doesn’t work too well. “I didn’t want to hurt you at all. I was just so hungry and I- Fuck, I’m sorry. That’s not even close to a good excuse. I shouldn’t have went on that mission alone with you. You wouldn’t be in there if someone else had my spot. I’m so-”

The door to the medbay swishes open and he turns around to check who it is, leaving his hand on the pod for a tick before jerking it to his side as if he’ll get yelled at for even thinking about touching it.

“Keith?” Shiro blinks at him, clearly confused.

“Uh… What are you doing here so late?” Keith crosses his arms and tries his best to gather himself.

“Well, Coran said the pod should be done healing him around this time. I volunteered to wake up and get him when it opens so he’s not alone. Although, since you’re probably going to be up for a while anyways, I might as well go back to sleep.” He turns to leave the room with a wave goodbye.

“Wait! I- I can’t be here when he wakes up!” Keith yells, the panic evident in his voice isn’t even close to the amount he’s actually feeling. Shiro turns to look at him again with a concerned expression.

“Keith, he isn’t going to blame you over what happened. We all know the risk of these missions and it’s no one’s fault when someone on the team gets injured.”

“No, Shiro, I can’t-” A loud beeping fills the rooms and cuts him off. Keith wants to run away and shut himself in his room again but his muscles freeze up and before he can it’s too late. The pod door opens and Keith whips his head around, wide eyes watching as Lance sways a bit before falling out of it. His mind is still screaming _run_ , but his body automatically catches Lance as he falls, holding him up by his shoulders as Lance’s head leans against Keith’s chest. Keith holds his breath in, only letting it out to huff out a curse when Lance looks up at him, still in a daze from being in the pod.

“Keith?” He looks around the medbay, eyes landing on Shiro for a tick, before turning his attention back to Keith.

“Fuck, please don’t hate me.” Keith lets go of Lance and slowly steps back. He has to force himself to continue towards the door as he watches Lance wobble a bit on his feet without support.

“Keith! Don’t let him fall!” Shiro rushes over and takes his place, wrapping an arm around Lance’s waist to hold him up. Lance ignores him, keeping his eyes on Keith in confusion.

“Hate you? Why would I-” Lance’s eyes suddenly widen as his memory comes back to him and he chokes on an inhale. Lance stumbles back, pushing Shiro away from him and tripping over his feet. Keith impulsively reaches a hand out to help him as he falls to the ground but stops himself when Lance flinches. “You- What did- I don’t understand what-”

“Please don’t hate me.” Keith repeats, his voice cracking, before turning and rushing out of the room. He ignores Shiro’s calls, knowing he won’t be able to follow him when he has to help Lance. He doesn’t know where he’s going as he runs down countless hallways until he reaches a part of the castle he’s never been in before. All he knows is that he can’t go back to his room yet because it would be way too easy for someone to find him.

He eventually stops running, immediately falling to the ground and curling in on himself. The look Lance had given him hurt so much more than he could have prepared for. Disgust, he can handle. Hatred? No big deal.

But… Fear? God, the way Lance had looked at him when he reached out, as if he was terrified Keith would try it again, made him want to rip his heart out. The worst part is, he knows _exactly_ how Lance feels. He knows how overwhelmingly horrible the feeling of seeing your murderer standing over you- or would-be murderer, in Lance’s case. Keith knows the fear Lance was feeling; knows that the only thing that was going through his mind was that he’s going to die.

Keith knows because he’s been through it himself, but he can only imagine how much worse it must feel to have the person who did it to you be someone you know- someone you were friends with and _trusted_. And Lance had trusted him with his life since they first started as Paladins, Keith is well aware. But now, all Keith can think about is how he shattered that trust. He hurt Lance. Put his life at an even higher risk that it was, and how he’s terrified of him.

Keith _knows_ he’s a monster. Has known since it happened that he’s something to be scared of and that he deserves it. But he had wanted _so bad_ to be able to pretend he’s still normal and that he had a chance at deserving something good. That chance is gone now, though. He burned it along with any others he might get as soon as he got on Blue with Lance. Hell, he burned it as soon as he left Earth.

  


  


Tip-toeing the line between awareness and dissociation was exhausting and all Lance wanted to do was lay down, for christ sake. Shiro had questions, however. A lot of them. And when Lance, still in a state of shock, was unable to do anything but stare, Shiro had resorted to getting the others. Minus Keith, of course.

He could make out a few of the questions when he was able to pull himself out of the thick fog that clouded his head for a dobosh or two before slipping right back in, his mind too blank to be able to think about replying. He’s not sure how long he sat there with everyone huddled around him. It felt like hours with the way everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, but maybe that’s just more proof he should really be getting some sleep instead of still sitting on the cold floor of the medbay where he had fell.

Hunk sits down in front of him and places a hand on his shoulder. The physical contact is enough to bring him back long enough to hear his question- spoken softly and full of concern.

“Do you remember what happened on the mission?”

Suddenly, Lance is back in Blue and it’s no longer Hunk’s hand on him or his face that’s leaning over him. “ _I don’t want to hurt you_ ”, Keith had said and Lance is a bit confused at how Keith’s eyes seemed to have changed from their dark blue to an almost glowing purple but he doesn’t dwell on it. Keith looks like he’s going to throw up and Lance has to make sure he knows it’s not his fault, none of this is his fault so it’s okay. They’re going to be okay.

Keith is crying as he continues to whisper out apologies as he leans in closer, and then there’s a sharp pain in his neck. He doesn’t understand what’s happening at first until there’s another push and he realizes Keith is _biting_ him. His head is pounding and he can’t keep his eyes open without feeling like he’s going to vomit. The room is spinning so fast and he wants to panic- wants to shove Keith away so he can explain to Lance what’s happening, but he’s so tired and his arms won’t move and-

 

Everything is black but he can feel more hands on him. His head hurts so bad and just thinking about standing up makes him dizzy all over again.

“Lance? Lance, can you hear me?” _Oh, is that Hunk?_

“Hunk?” Lance croaks out and tries to sit up but- ahhh, yeah, bad idea.

“Woah! Don’t move!” Hunk keeps a hand under Lance’s head as he slowly lowers him back down. He can feel the soft cover of one of the medbay cots and sighs at how much better it feels compared to the hard floor. He opens his eyes slightly, squinting at the lights which are set to a low setting for him but still too bright.

He can make out Allura’s blurry form next to Hunk as she starts talking in a hushed tone. Way better than Hunk’s yelling. “You lost a lot of blood, Lance.”

He wants to laugh at that, cause yeah, doesn’t he fuckin’ know.

“The pod was only able to replenish a little bit of it, but it had to let you out since your wound was done healing or there would have been complications.” Pidge finishes for Allura but he can’t see where she is. Doesn’t make an attempt to, really. “You’re gonna have to stay in bed for a couple quintants at least.”

“We were going to bring you to your room after you passed out but you woke up as soon as we set you on the cot.” Hunk grabs his hand and squeezes it gently. “We’ll take you there now and bring you some food, okay?” He let’s go and starts rolling the cot towards the door and, no, that won’t do. He doesn’t want to be rolled around like he’s in some earth hospital. He _hates_ hospitals.

“Stop, stop-” Lance tries to lift his arm towards Hunk but it’s still heavy by his side. Hunk catches his words though, and the cot comes to a halt just before reaching the doors.

“Oh! Did I hit a bump? I’m-”

“Carry me.”

“Uh… Are you sure? I don’t think we should be moving you too much right now.”

Lance just repeats his demand, making his voice as serious as he can while pretending it’s not shaking. Hunk huffs and shakes his head before bending over and wiggling his arms underneath Lance.

“If it hurts, It’s your fault.” His tone is still bordering on worry and guilt, clearly not going to blame Lance for anything right now. He begins to lift and Lance winces at the initial post-pod soreness in his body that flares up again but it’s not as bad as he thought it would be so he relaxes easily against his friend’s chest. “Pidge, can you run to the kitchen and grab some food to bring him?” Hunk calls over his shoulder and she shouts back an affirmative before the doors shut.

Lance has to keep his eyes shut during the trip since the moving walls are making him nauseous, and before he knows it he’s being laid down in his bed. He almost falls asleep right away but Hunk touches his arm again and it jolts him awake again.

“I’m really glad you’re okay, buddy.” Hunk whispers and Lance can’t help but smile.

“Me too. I’m sorry if I made you worry too much.”

“Oh, no, don’t think about that. We’re all just happy you’re okay.” Hunk pauses and seems to be considering something for a moment before looking back down at him and smirking, his tone dropping into something teasing and dangerous. “Besides, I think Keith was actually more worried than anyone.” He waggles his eyebrows at Lance, not catching how his skin has paled at the mention of Keith.

“H-he was?” Lance is now more confused than he’s been since he’s left the pod. Hadn’t Keith tried to hurt him? Which is another thing that had him feeling so lost, but he can’t begin to understand why Keith would be worried if he had hurt Lance too.

“I’m just teasing. No one was more worried than me. You’re my best friend, dude. I can’t lose you, y'know?” It sounds like he’s going to cry but he clears his throat and goes back to the playful tone from before. “Not that Keith wasn’t worried about you, though. I _told_ you he cares about you. You just wanna make things hard on yourself and ignore it. The dude likes you Lance, trust me.”

“Doesn’t matter anymore. Not like I still like him after-” Lance cuts himself off, furrowing his brows and turning his head away.

“Woah, what? You guys get in a fight on the base?”

“Something like that.” Lance sighs and curses the fact that he still doesn’t have the energy to roll over completely to avoid Hunk’s gaze. He _could_ if he tried hard enough, but he’s too tired and it’s honestly not worth the effort.

“What happened?” Hunk puts his hand on Lance’s shoulder, gently moving his thumb in small circles and rubbing the tension away.

He’s not… He’s not actually sure what happened. All he knows is that Keith had bit him hard enough that he can still feel the blood running down his neck when he thinks about it. Knows that Keith had hurt him and that he should tell the others incase he hurts one of them too but-

“Are you _sure_ he was worried about me?” Lance mumbles towards the wall and Hunk lets out a stiff laugh.

“Ahh, yea, man. He was a mess when he got out of Blue. I think seeing you hurt really messed him up. I’m pretty sure he was hallucinating for a bit. He kept talking like you were with him still and didn’t stop until he got in the pod. Didn’t come out of his room until today, either.”

“What, um… what did he say?”

“Jus’ a bunch of apologies. We tried to let him know it’s not his fault but he wouldn’t listen. I know he’s usually pretty hard on himself, but yeesh. I’ve never seen him so upset.”

All Lance is able to let out is a quiet little, “Oh.” before his door is opening and Pidge enters with a tray of five different food-goo flavors.

She sets them down on the nightstand before helping Hunk lift Lance up so he can eat with his back against the wall. “I wasn’t sure which you would be in the mood for, so I just got all of them.”

He only ever eats the same one, but it’s still a nice thought. He accepts the blue goo (He might be a bit biased), like always, and she sets it in his lap for him.

"You guys can eat, too, y’know. It’s around breakfast time, right?” He pokes at his food as they grab their own bowls and sit on either side of him.

“Few hours before, actually. But we don’t mind being up early for you. Besides, it’s been a long morning so I’m sure Allura won’t mind if Hunk and I skip out on training until after lunch if you wanna just chill and maybe take a nap together.” Pidge says around her spoon, letting a bit of goo dribble down her chin. Hunk gives her a disgusted look and reaches over Lance to slap her leg.

This is good, Lance thinks, hanging out with his two best friends. It’s calm, comfortable. He misses hanging out with them like this, it gives him a sense of normality. A chance to feel like the kid he is. Being sucked into a war can be hard for anyone, and he tries his hardest to not let it change him too much, so having these moments with his friends is something he tries to grasp onto as much as possible.

Letting their guard down probably isn’t a good idea, but he’s just gotten out of the healing pod after a nasty injury and he thinks he deserves at least one night doing nothing but joking with his friends. Dealing with fighting and Keith can come later. He just wants to breathe.  

  


  
  


 

Lance had spent the whole day, and half of the next, sleeping on and off after Hunk and Pidge left his room, and he can tell he’s already feeling better. Still dizzy, but walking isn’t an issue as long as he reminds himself to take breaks and not overexert himself. Which is easy, since Allura won’t let him train and there’s not much else to do besides laze around.

Before, he would have been ecstatic to have time to relax and not do anything at all. Now, it’s just boring. Hunk and Pidge still have to train so all he can do is sit and watch unless he wants to be by himself. And that’s not something that sounds pleasing now or ever. He’s a people-person, so sitting on a chair that Hunk dragged into the training room for him and watching them beat robots senseless is far better than sitting all alone in the lounge watching Altean movies that he can’t understand.

For a while, anyways. He’s not sure how long they’ve been training, but it’s been long enough for his legs to fall asleep a few times and he’s bored of walking around the small corner of space they told him to stay in to wake them back up and get rid of the annoying pinpricks. The next best thing is leaving the training room altogether, though. Well, he supposes a short walk alone won’t be too bad. It’ll give him some quiet time to think about how to confront Keith.

It takes a few tries to get their attention over the noise of the fighting going on, but eventually Hunk hears him yelling and runs over.

“What’s up, buddy?” He’s out of breath and Lance almost asks if he wants to walk with him so he can have a short break, but that’ll just distract him from the issue at hand.

“My legs fell asleep. I’m gonna take a walk to get my blood flowing.”

“Oh, okay. Be careful, stick to the walls incase you get dizzy again, okay?”

“Yea, yea.” Lance stands up, stretching out his limbs and wincing at the buzzing pain in his legs. “I think I’m gonna stop by the kitchen. Want me to bring back some snacks? You guys should take a break for food, anyways.”“Oh! That would be great! Thanks, Lance.” Hunk grins and pats his shoulder. “I gotta get back for now before Shiro scolds me again, hurry back so we can chill out a bit, yea?”

“Yea, go whoop his ass!” Lance calls out to him as he runs back towards the others. Shiro turns and glares at him, clearly catching the curse, and Lance decides that’s his que to dip out for a bit.

  
  
  
He hates walking around the Castle alone; the halls are too bare and long, and the lighting is a bit creepy in his opinion. At least they don’t hang from swinging cords or flicker, that would be a nightmare. It still doesn’t get rid of the feeling that he’s entered a different dimension where he’s the only one alive in the universe. He’s always hated liminal spaces back on Earth, but in Space it’s on a whole new level of disorienting.  

It makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and his pace quickens. He can no longer hear the sounds of his friends training, and he can’t tell if his footsteps are really _that quiet_ , or if the ringing in his ears is too loud to hear them.

Either way, he tries his best to focus more on Keith than on any of his previous thoughts of Alternate dimensions and silence. He _had_ been worried… right? Lance’s memory from that night had gotten a bit blurry about halfway to Blue, but he can still remember one thing crystal clear.

How _broken_ Keith looked before he crawled over to Lance. He had never seen Keith cry before, so that alone must be a sign that he really didn’t want to hurt him. Maybe it was something like people do when they get bit by a snake and you have to suck the venom out?

No, That can’t be it. There were no space-snakes and he had been stabbed in his abdomen, not his neck.

He goes through a few other reasons for Keith to hurt him, each more ridiculous than the last, before giving up. He’s sure that whatever the reason was, Keith clearly feels bad and didn’t want to hurt him. He’s still confused, of course, but he’ll have to talk to Keith before deciding if he’s upset about it. Well… upset enough to tell the others and get Keith in trouble.

Lance almost laughs out loud at the thought of having something to hold over Keith’s head for once, but stops himself when he hears a crashing noise coming from the kitchen a few doors down. He freezes for a tick before tip-toeing to the door and peeking inside.

 

 _Oh_ , perfect timing.

 

Lance tries to smile as casually as he can as he enters the kitchen. He walks over to where Keith is crouched over on the ground and trying to clean up a broken bowl, cursing as he uses his hands to put the pieces into a trash can.

He must not have heard Lance come in, though, because as soon as Lance reaches out to put his hand on Keith’s shoulder, he jumps in shock.

It goes by too quick for Lance to tell what happened, but one moment he’s smiling and about to ask Keith if he needs help, and the next, he’s on the floor with Keith over him and holding a broken piece of glass to his neck.

  
  
  
  


Keith had made sure everyone was busy before heading to the kitchen. He had peeked in the training room door’s window to check that they were all in there. Especially Lance, who was dozing off in a chair against the wall.

So when he had heard someone behind him while he wasn’t expecting anyone to be in this part of the Castle for a while, he may have freaked out more than necessary. He’s always been too jumpy and quick to attack.

All of the annoyance and desire to _fight, fight, fight_ , leaves his body in one rush once he sees the look on Lance’s face; underneath him and shaking as he tries to stretch his body away from the sharp edge of the makeshift weapon.

“Shit,” Keith tosses it to the side and flings himself back.

Lance groans as he sits up, rubbing at his neck. He looks up at Keith, ready to make a joke along the lines of _‘just like old times, huh, buddy?’,_ but the comment dies in his throat immediately. Keith looks like how Lance remembers him on Blue, but without the tears this time.

His face is such a sickly pale and Lance can tell he’s trying not to throw up. He goes to push the trash bin towards him just incase, but as soon as he moves, Keith flinches and hits his head against the cupboard he’s already pressed so hard against, as if he’s trying to phase through it.

“Keith? I’m not upset with you. I know you didn’t want to hurt me.”

“I almost killed you.” Keith whispers towards the floor, so quiet Lance almost misses it.

“But I’m okay. Look! I’m alive! We both made it out of the mission fine.”  

“Are you, though? I know you haven’t fully recovered or else Allura would have made you train with everyone.” Keith is still shaking when he finally looks up at Lance, and he has to force himself to keep the eye contact instead of running out of the room.

Lance sighs but doesn’t give up. “No, I’m still pretty weak. But you still got me out of that base alive. You saved me, Keith, and I don’t care that you bit me, I swear. I mean, of course I’m curious _why_ , but I could tell it hurt you as much as it hurt me.”

He doesn’t reply so Lance carries on, this time slowly scooting closer. “You don’t have to tell me why you did it. All you have to do is promise you won’t-”

“Stop! Stop moving.”

“Relax, I know you won’t hurt me again.”

“No you _don’t_! I’ve already hurt you twice, Lance! There’s nothing stopping me from hurting you again.”

Lance sits back on his ankles and gives him a puzzled look. “Twice?”

“When I- when I pushed you and bruised your ribs before the mission.”

“Well, that doesn’t count because it was an accident. That has nothing to do with you biting me.”

“Yes it does!” Keith sits up straighter and glares at him. Why won’t he just accept that Keith isn’t safe to be around? “You were too close to me and I almost attacked you in the lounge. That’s why I pushed you away. But in Blue… I couldn’t… there was so much blood, I couldn’t stop myself. And I can’t promise I’ll be able to stop myself in the future.”

“I… I don’t understand.” Lance furrows his brows and shaked his head. “Keith, I know I freaked out in the medbay when I got out of the pod, but I was just confused. I know you wouldn’t hurt me again.”

“Yes I will, Lance. I’m dangerous and you shouldn’t be near me anymore.”

“God! Stop being so edgy! You’re not da-”

Keith jumps at him, trapping him against the floor once again, and bares his teeth in a nasty snarl. Fangs and all.

“K-keith?” Lance squeeks out. His eyes are wide and it feels like his heart is going to beat right out of his chest, but he takes a deep breath to try and calm down. It’s hard to do, however, when Keith’s teeth are so sharp and so close to his face.

“You aren’t going to defend yourself?” Keith growls out, a little bit in anger and a little bit in confusion.

“You won’t hurt m-”

Keith stands up, grabbing Lance’s shirt collar and pulling him up to stand with him. Before Lance can speak, Keith grabs a knife off of the counter and shoves the handle into Lance’s hand.

“What- what am I supposed to do with this?”

“ _Defend_ yourself.” And then Keith is jumping towards him again and Lance hates himself for how quick he is to raise the knife to Keith’s neck. The knifes edge presses hard enough to make a thin cut above Keith’s adam’s apple, but Lance draws it away when Keith tilts his head up and forces it deeper.

“What the fuck are you-”

“Lance,” Keith is tired of avoiding it, so he finally lets it out to try and get Lance to understand better. “I’m a vampire. I need to hurt others in order to live. And I want to… to hurt you guys sometimes. When I’m hungry. Please, you need to protect the team.” He grabs Lance’s hand that’s still holding the knife and brings it back to his neck.

“You… so you-” Lance lets out a gasp and the knife drops to the floor. It almost stabs him in the foot but he probably wouldn’t have registered it if it had. “I’m not- Shit, Keith, I can’t-”

“No, Lance, you _have_ to. I can’t control myself if I go too long without eating. I already hurt you, I can’t risk it again when I get hungry.” Keith is borderline desperate now. He’s never had the strength to do it himself, so he just needs to convince Lance he’s dangerous so the team will be safe. Lance is still stubborn as hell, though, and it seems he’s set on not listening to a single thing Keith says.

“So you haven’t… _ate…_ since we left Earth? I mean before the… the mission, of course.” He just seems conflicted now, unsure of what he’s supposed to do. “How did… How did you, um, eat on Earth?”

“Do you really need to know all the specifics before you kill me?”

“I’m not gonna- ! _Jesus_ , dude. Look,-” Lance groans into his hands and leans back over the counter until he’s facing the ceiling. “You didn’t… I can’t just-”

“I _hurt_ you, Lance. I almost drained you completely! You were already bleeding out from the sword to begin with and I made it worse!”

“But you needed to! What happens if you go too long without drinking blood?” Keith looks away and doesn’t reply to that. “Exactly. You need it. I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak out in the medbay, I just wasn’t sure what to think.”

Keith lets out a deep sigh, almost a groan, and rubs his hands over his face. “You don’t have to apologize for anything. I’m the one who owes you an apology. I should have at least told you what was going on before I fed off of you.”

“Yeah, probably. But hey! That eye thing was cool.”

Keith looks at him incredulously and scoffs. “I tell you I _drink blood_ to live, and all you care about are my _eyes_?”

“Don’t get so hung up on the bad, Keith.” Lance waves his hand in the air dismissively before bending down to pick up the knife and set it on the counter. “Besides, glowing eyes are tight as hell. You should keep them like that.”

“They don’t-” Keith groans and scrunches his face up. He can’t believe he thought _Lance_ would ever react in anyway other than this. Sure, he can be serious when it’s important, but any other time it’s impossible for him to not make jokes. Not that this isn’t important. Because it _is_ , but how Lance works is a mystery to Keith and he doesn’t think he’ll ever get close to figuring him out anytime soon. “They don’t _glow_. They’re just reflective.”

“Really?” Lance leans close to him to stare into his eyes. “Why aren’t they that reflective right now?”

“Can you-” Keith shoves him away and steps back a couple feet for good measure. “There’s like… I don’t know? An extra cover on my eyes or something. Makes them look normal until I’m… hunting, I guess. When they’re uncovered it’s easier to see in the dark.” He makes sure to leave out the part where they help him make people calm down to make it easier to feed off of. Lance doesn’t need to know that. He doesn’t really need to know any of this, but if he doesn’t give _something_ away Lance will never stop asking question.

“So… like a camel?”

Keith lets out the deepest sigh he can. He shouldn’t have said a single damn thing at all. “You’re unbelievable.”

“But not wrong.” Lance starts to laugh but suddenly stops, his demeanor changing from happy to, finally, serious. And Keith had wanted him to take this seriously, but he doesn’t exactly like the worried look on Lance’s face. “Hey, uh… so what are you going to do now? Like, about eating.”

And the answer is simple. “Nothing.”

“ _Nothing_ ?” Lance looks pissed off now. “You’re just going to let yourself _die_?”

“What else am I _supposed_ to do, Lance?”

“Uhhhm! Drink my blood? Obviously?” His nose scrunches up for a tick and he shakes his head in disbelief. As if Keith is the one being dumb right now.

“I am not feeding off of you. You’re not even done healing from the last time!”

“Well then when I’m better! You can’t just let yourself die of hunger, dude.”

“Yes I can. What I’m _not_ going to do, is let you offer yourself up to be food. You don’t need to risk your health just because you feel like you have to help me.”

“I don’t feel like I have to! I want to! Jeeze, some people do things to help others just for the sake of helping. And you’re my _friend_ , Keith. I _want_ to help you.”

“Lance, no. I’m not going to-”

“Hey, you found Keith!” Hunk’s voice cuts him off and both boys turn to where he’s standing in the doorway. “I was wondering what was taking you so long. Pidge bet me you passed out again but since you’re fine she owes me 5 GAC.”

“I wish I could say I can’t believe you bet on me passing out, but I’m not surprised.” Lance rolls his eyes but smiles at his best friend.

“Sorry, buddy. You know how it is. Gotta earn that cash somehow.” Hunk makes his way over to them and goes to say more but his eyes fall on the broken bowl thats still scattered on the floor, pushed around even more from Keith jumping at Lance. His raises an eyebrow in question at them and opens his mouth but gets cut off.

“Well, now that you’re here to help Lance, I’m leaving.” Keith pushes past them and heads to the door but stops when Lance reaches out to grab his wrist.

“Can you just…” His eyes are downcast when Keith turns to him but after a tick of silence he looks up at him pleadingly, “just think about it? Please?”

Keith’s voice gets caught in his throat, unable to form words when Lance speaks in such a hushed yet determined tone and his eyes are looking back and forth between his own so intensely. He hates, _hates_ , how much he’s still affected by this boy.  Hates that even after Keith hurt him, Lance still goes to the greatest lengths to show how much he cares for the other and won’t give up on him. Hates that it makes his heart beat wildly against the invisible constraints over it even harder than before as he’s reminded _why_ he likes Lance so much.  And _why_ he doesn’t deserve this.

He doesn’t deserve to be helped.

But he’s weak to this boy.

 

So he nods.

  


  
  


 

They don’t get another chance to speak for a while. Keith goes back to avoiding people as much as possible while still being available if needed, and Lance is finally able to train and he has a lot of lost time to make up for. Keith never leaves Lance’s mind, though, and it’s too distracting while trying to spar. It pisses him off, just a little bit, that Keith doesn’t even have to be in the same room as him anymore to be the object of his attention. He can deal when Keith is training with him, it’s normal to get caught up in watching someone move so fluidly and with so much skill. Expecially when that someone is twice as hot as hell could ever be and rude enough to not be wearing a shirt.

What’s not normal, Lance decides, is not being able to focus on anything other than _Him_ , even when he’s fighting 3 bots that require at _least_ 90% of his attention. Instead of the 40% that he’s giving them because Keith is greedy and seems to need most of Lance’s attention even if he doesn’t actually know it and has never so much as hinted at even wanting it.

Yeah, this is Keith’s fault. He would blame the bite- accuse him of doing something funky to Lance- if he hadn’t been like this well before then. He knows it’s all him. Keith hasn’t done anything other than be himself and that’s Lance’s problem. He can’t help it if his knees wobble at the thought of hot guys who can fight and will tease Lance back and forth without hesitance because it’s fun to Lance. Boys who he can rile up and get a big reaction out of are exactly his type. They’re thrilling. Boys with rough hands and messy hair. Stubborn boys who are hard to make laugh but when they do it’s _beautiful_ . Boys with dark blue eyes that are apparently sometimes a _reflective_ purple and are sometimes caught looking so, so soft in Lance’s direction way too many times to be a coincidence.

Boys who are so unattainable that it hurts because no matter how much Lance wants to just hold their dumb fucking hand he _can’t_.

Boys who are Keith.

It’s an issue, he knows. Because he’s never liked someone so much and he should feel at least a little bit less attracted to him after finding out Keith’s secret but it’s the exact opposite. He can’t find it in himself to think it gross or disturbing that Keith lives off of drinking the blood of others. Can’t find it in himself to care that Keith is supposedly “dangerous” and could hurt him if he “loses control”. Because Lance knows he won’t. Keith had made it clear that he shouldn’t be trusted, but Lance doesn’t believe that for a single moment anymore. Keith is as scared of himself as he thinks others should be, and Lance just wants to be able to change that.

He wants to show Keith that he’s still normal and is in control of himself and that the team loves him no matter what he has to do to survive. Want’s to show Keith that Lance-

One of the bots delivers a swift kick to his chest and knocks every thought in his head away as he flies to the ground. The bots don’t care that he is already down and continue to come at him as he rolls out of the way.

“End training sequence!” Lance yells out right as one of the metal sticks is starting to swing down towards his face and all three drop into the floor. He rolls onto his back with his arms stretched out to the side and lets out a deep breath. What a mess.

  


  


His hunger seems worse this time. It’s barely been more than a week and he’s already on edge. The food goo still seems to be enough for right now, but it’s still not _enough_. It helps with hunger pains, but he still has that constant picking need to eat, and it only seems to be worse around Lance. He hates knowing how he tastes, it makes him feel disgusting, but at the same time he loves it. He loves how he can still taste it on his tongue when Lance is near him, so close yet not close enough. Never close enough.

He doesn’t want to take Lance up on his offer, though. No matter how hard his body is screaming at him to.

There’s a few times where he had almost caved and he thinks of asking Lance to wear a turtle neck but he knows all he’ll get in return are a bunch of jokes and lower collars. Besides, it’s not like the neck is the only place he can bite. And what good would fabric do against his sharp teeth? It’s pointless.

It’s pointless and he’s still so hungry. _Again_.

It’s dangerous, fighting while hungry like this, but he wants to try controlling himself at least a little bit longer. That plan seems to go to waste, however, when the alarms go off and they’re sucked into another battle before Keith can collect himself.

Keith wants to scream in frustration. His limbs won’t move fast enough anymore and his head hurts. Lance is fighting beside him and he knows Lance can tell something is up with him but thankfully doesn’t mention it. Not like he could with the rest of the team close by as well. Although that still doesn’t stop Keith from sneaking risky glances towards the other. He would be able to take this group of Galra down if he just accepted Lance’s offer. _One more week_ . Keith tells himself. _Just make it one more week before considering it. Prove you can make it one more week. You have to earn it._

He doesn’t make it one more week.

He doesn’t even make it another hour. Hunk’s arm is bleeding and the scent is so strong to him and Keith has to run ahead of the team to get away from it. He can hear them shouting for him to come back, that it’s too dangerous to go alone, but it’s not exactly safe with him being there either.

He rounds the corner and is able to take down the two sentries that followed him out before falling against the wall and sliding down in exhaustion. There are hands gripping his shoulders before he’s able to take another breath and he isn’t surprised at all to see Lance kneeling over him. He’s speaking but Keith can’t focus on his words.

His arm feels too weak as he brings it up to pull Lance closer but it’s worth it. He knows he doesn’t even have to ask for it at this point, but he still whispers out a broken and desperate, “ _Please_.”

Lance doesn’t hesitate before he’s tugging his helmet off and pulling the collar of his suit down. Keith struggles for a tick, not wanting to use Lance like this, but when he looks up from Lance’s neck and sees the look on his face, intense determination yet with a soft, sure smile, he can’t stop from pushing his face into Lance. He pauses when his teeth graze his skin until Lance gives a short nod and he bites down.

Keith can feel Lance’s breath coming out quickly, his chest rising and falling as his heart beats fast, and he _loves_ it. He doesn’t even care how good he tastes right now. All he can focus on is the hands gripping his back, squeezing when he pushes a little harder. The sounds of the fight that is still going on are lost to him in favor of the sound of Lance’s breathing and the rush of blood in his veins.

He finally pulls away when there’s a particularly loud explosion that catches his attention. Lance seems to be alright still, and he’s glad he didn’t take too much this time. “Are you alright?”

Lance nods as he brings a hand up to touch the bite mark. It’s still bleeding and Keith wants so badly to lean forward and lick the mess up, but then Lance is already moving away to pull his helmet on and standing up.

“Come-” His voice cracks horribly, and he clears his throat before continuing. “Come on, they need us back there.”

Keith would be worried that he messed up and that Lance regretted it, if he hadn’t caught the beginning of a smile on his fast as he turns away.

He no longer feels weak as he stands up, bayard in hand and with his own smirk, as he runs back to fight with the others.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: I'll update this next week!  
> Me: doesnt do that. 
> 
> anyways so sorry for the long wait. Thanks to nyansucc on tumblr tho for reading over this while i was working on it. I probably wouldnt have had the motivation to continue it for a long time if you did help <3 
> 
> My tumblr: Krayduh


	3. Chapter 3

Keith is, without even a fraction of a doubt, the worst at keeping promises to himself. For example: promising himself he wouldn't hurt anyone on the team. At least that one took him over a month to fuck up. 

 

“Wait a week to accept Lance's offer,” however, barely lasted five minutes before being broken. 

 

He's getting better, though. At least he thinks he is.  _ Baby steps.  _ He tells himself.  _ At least you're trying. _ And he is, really. Keith may not feel like he's worth having someone like Lance help him in such a… physically demanding way… but if he continuously tells himself he's trying as hard as he can to do and be better at giving back and not taking as much, he can convince himself he'll deserve it eventually. Like a loan of sorts. 

 

An odd, kind of fucked up loan. “Give me your blood now and I promise to pay you back someway in the future when I am capable and am able to find something that shows how thankful I am that you were too stubborn to let me die.”

 

He doesn't tell Lance about his promise. He doesn't want to verbalize it and risk jinxing it. So he keeps it to himself and hopes he gets better at fulfilling promises. He needs practice, though, so he starts small for now. 

 

_ I promise to only feed off Lance once every other week.  _

 

Broken. He lasted that week he originally promised himself before showing up at Lance's bedroom door, eyes pleading more than words ever could until Lance just smiled sweetly and let him inside. The second time was only a tiny bit better in the nerves department. But infinitely better taste wise. As it turns out, drinking Lance's blood is  _ so much  _ better when there isn't the threat of dying hanging over their heads. He loses himself in it again without worrying, leaving that for when he's done, and all he is able to focus on is how insanely good Lance tastes. 

 

There must be  _ something _ in his blood. He's had blood from countless different people and they've all tastes a tad different, but never has anything tasted so addicting. He feels ridiculous for getting so hung up on it so often, but he can't help it. 

 

He knows it's most likely the reason why he feels hungry sooner now. It must be some sort of placebo shit telling him he's  _ starving, _ when in reality he just really wants to eat just to  _ taste.  _ He has never wanted to feed just for pleasure before, it's odd and frankly alarming. Odd because it makes him feel exactly like when he used to wake up in the middle of the night and the only thing he could think of was stealing Shiro's entire stash of oatmeal cream cakes when he wasn't hungry at all because,  _ damn those sound so fucking good right now.  _ But alarming because,  _ I really should  _ not  _ get so obsessed with feeding from Lance.  _

 

He tried his best to convince himself he  _ isn't  _ obsessed, just hungry, but he knows the truth. It's obvious now, as his senses narrow in on Lance as soon as he gets as close as 3 hallways away. He knows it now, because it has only been four days since the last time he took Lance's blood but he already wants nothing more. It's rude, another thing he knows, extremely rude to ask for more so soon, but he's obsessed. And Lance is always more than willing to help. 

 

“Are you…? You know… wanna go get something to eat?” Lance asks once he gets close to Keith and he realizes he's just been frozen in the same spot and watching Lance as soon as he sensed him. Keith nods and Lance smiles wide, reminding him of the  _ other _ reason he is obsessed with this beautiful boy that has already given so much. To everyone on the team, not just Keith. Although Keith would be lying if he said he isn't happy his is a bit more personal. A secret thing just between them that Lance couldn't give to anyone else. And Keith sure as hell wouldn't accept it from anyone else. 

 

“C'mon.” Lance grabs Keith's hand and pulls him towards the hall where their bedrooms are. This is new, the holding hands, and even Pidge notices when they pass by and look more shocked than Keith has ever seen them. 

 

_ Yeah,  _ Keith thinks,  _ I don't know what's happening, either.  _

 

They finally make it to Keith's room, which also surprises him. They've only ever done this in Lance's, so Keith isn't sure how this is going to go. He's always left right after making sure Lance was okay and he didn't take too much. But… this is  _ Keith's  _ room. He can't just… leave Lance in here alone and Lance won't be able to walk without help for a period of time afterwards, so… he guesses he'll either carry Lance to his room or Lance will stay and hang out with Keith. 

 

He really, really hope it's the second one. 

  
  


Keith stands in the doorway where Lance finally let go of his hand and watches him sit on the bed. Usually Lance will take his shirt of so he doesn't get blood on it, but he leaves it on so Keith, again, doesn't know what to do. Does he just go over there and wait next to him? Should he stay standing and wait? Keith shuffles back and forth on his feet, feeling anxious and awkward, so unsure of how to do anything off routine. Lance just smiles at him, too smug to mean anything good at all. 

 

“Sooo,” Lance starts and his widening smile only makes Keith regret everything. “You promised you would give me more deets on this whole vampire thing.”

 

Keith glares at him and scoffs. “I did  _ not  _ promise that. At all. In fact I definitely remember saying I wasn't going to tell you a damn thing.”

 

“But..” Lance sticks his bottom lip out in an over exaggerated pout, eyes wide and somehow filling with tears. Goddamn theatre nerds. Keith hated every single one of them in school and Lance would be a prime example of why if only he wasn't so… endearing at the same time. It's dumb. Keith hates it. Mainly because it actually fucking works. He's so fucked. 

 

“Fine, but I'm not answering anything I'm not comfortable with.”

 

“Cool! That's fine!” Lance excitedly bounces on the bed and Keith sighs before making his way over to him to sit down as well. 

 

“What do you want to know?”

 

“Well, I've been really curious about how you ate on Earth. Did you have someone like me who offered their blood?” He asks but Keith knows what he's actually curious about. 

 

“You mean, you want to know whether or not I attacked or killed anyone for blood?” 

“No! Jeez, I told you I trusted that you wouldn't hurt anyone. You gotta have more faith in me, dude.”

 

“Whatever. I, uh, knew someone who worked in a hospital. Cliche way for vampires to get blood, I know, but it was effective. I was only able to get one or two bags a week though, and sometimes she wasn't able to sneak anything out for me so I would always save one if she got me two just in case.”

 

“Oh wow…” Lance still looks excited, it's obvious he's been waiting so long to hear about this stuff and now he's positively thrilled to get this juicy info. “Was she a vampire too?”

 

“Uhh… I'm not actually sure? She seemed to know a lot about them, so she probably was or had just been helping out a ton of vampires for a long enough time to gather all that info. I didn't really spend too much time with her. Just long enough to get a bag and sometimes ask a few questions.”

 

“Wait, why would you need to ask someone else questions if you're a vampire? Shouldn't you already know this stuff?”

 

“Well…” Keith takes a deep breath and tries to avoid Lance's confused expression. “I'm not like… a  _ full _ vampire… so I didn't know pretty much anything until I met her.”

 

“Wait!” Lance jumps off the bed and forces himself into Keith's line of sight. He looks worried now, and Keith feels sick knowing where this is going. “so you got  _ turned?  _ Did you die!?” 

 

“Lance, I don't want to-”

 

“Oh my  _ god!  _ I didn't even think of the possibility of vampires actually being able to turn others into one! That's so cool! Can you turn me!?” Lance's eyes are blown wide, giddy excitement filling them again. Keith is reeling from the so many sudden changes in emotions, not to mention from trying to figure out if he should be insulted Lance jumped from  _ Keith dying _ to…  _ that.  _

 

“No.” He says, tight and resolute. “Lance you won't like it at all. It's not as cool as you think it is.”

 

“Hey, man, everyone has different perspectives on things.” Lance flops back on the bed, laying down this time with his legs hanging off. “You never answered my question about dying. Is that how it works? Also can you at least tell me if you  _ can  _ turn others?” He gives Keith those dumb puppy eyes again, so of course he has to answer. God, Lance makes him feel weaker than not eating for a month does. 

 

“I…” Keith's vision goes out of focus for a few seconds as he zones out, mind going back to when he turned, before clearing his throat and looking Lance in the eyes. “I did. Die, I mean. You have to to be turned. It, uh, I was told it works like a virus? You have to be bit and theres this…  _ virus  _ in the vampire's saliva or something that enters your system.”

 

“ _ Excuse me? _ ” Lance chokes and sits up, keeping his wide eyes on Keith. “So it's already  _ in  _ me!?”

 

“Well, it doesn't last long if you're alive. You're body will kill it off like a normal virus. That's why you have to die after so it can take control of the dead cells, I guess. I uh, I don't know if I can turn someone, though. There's differences in people who were born with it and people who weren't.”

 

“Damn, what else is different?”

 

“Uh, I have to eat more often. My body isn't able to keep itself healthy as long as someone who was born a vampire. My senses aren't as strong, either. Or my speed and strength. Just generally weaker, I guess.” Keith is looking at the floor now, talking about this makes him feel awkward and he feels like a mix of stupid and disgusting. Stupid because he can't remember all of the details and he really should have since it's his life now, and disgusting because  _ it's his life now _ . 

 

Lance doesn't seem to mind either way. He just looks thoughtful as he takes it all in, paying more attention than Keith ever did when he learned about this stuff. Although that might be because Lance is interested by choice, whereas Keith  _ had  _ to learn. He wasn't given a choice in any of this. 

 

“So… wow, okay, you don't have to answer this one but I'm too curious to not at least ask… you can hit me after if you want, but just, watch the face, okay?”

 

“ _ Lance. _ Just ask me.”

 

“Geez, okay. So uh, how exactly did you die? In order to be turned?” Oh there it is. 

 

Keith had actually thought that would the first question Lance would ask. If not the second, right behind “did you kill people for food?”

 

“I don't-” Keith lets out a shakey voice and fucking  _ squeaks  _ when he suddenly feels a hand on his back.

 

“I said you don't have to answer if you don't wanna, don't worry about it.” He gives Keith a gentle smile and it reminds him of the one he had in Blue. Before they had even reached the base and Lance had looked to him with the fondest smile, too soft and dangerous to Keith's basically still dead heart that is  _ not _ beating at a rapid pace, he swears.

 

“Thanks.” It comes out as another squeak which causes Lance to laugh. 

 

“Nooo problem, man. Sorry for asking personal questions. I'll give you a break for now, yea?” Lance is still smiling at him. Would it be weird if Keith asked him to stop smiling at him? “Anyways, let's get this show on the road.”

 

Lance grabs the back of his shirt and pulls it over his head, effectively clearing Keith's mind of their past conversation. His eyes narrow in on Lance's smooth stomach before his thoughts catch up to him and he remembers the reason Lance is taking his shirt of in the first place. 

 

He waits a few seconds, trying to calm himself down, before adjusting his position so he can easily fit against Lance's neck. This isn't new to either of them anymore, having done it at least a dozen times by now, but he still gets nervous. Keith takes a deep breath when he presses his face against Lance's skin and feels him shiver in response. He might hesitate for to long this time, he usually does for a second or two, but it seems to be too long for Lance because he brings his hand up and smooths it down the back of Keith's head. 

 

Which  _ is  _ something that's new to them. Lance has never touched him when they do this. His hands always stay lax beside him, waiting for Keith to get done before touching the bite mark. 

 

Keith jumps a little at first, but when Lance shushes him quietly, he relaxes back into place and bites. He can feel Lance's body tense, like usual, as he continues to run his fingers through Keith's hair, not usual. It makes this whole situation feel immensely different. As if it isn't for Keith's survival and more so just for intimacy. Which-

 

_ Oh. _ Keith pauses for barely a second before going back with more intensity, his own hands coming up to grip at Lance; one on his hip and on on his shoulder that Keith isn't blocking.  _ This is why he loves feeding off Lance so much.  _

 

It turns out, it  _ is  _ just dumb placebo shit. Not that Lance wouldn't taste good in his own, it's just-- Thinking about how close they are, how  _ intimate  _ this really is, makes him a bit giddy and he suddenly loves it  _ so much more.  _ He pulls the rest of Lance closer to him, practically into his lap, because he's still weak and greedy and Lance's blood isn't the only thing he wants.

 

Lance inhales sharply and Keith finds the control to pull away and look at him with worry. “Are you okay? I didn't hurt you did I?”

 

“You--” Lance stares at him for a moment before smiling, damn him, and gently pushing Keith's mouth back onto his neck. “I'm okay, don't worry.”

 

Keith hums against his skin before sucking on the wound, not wanting to push his teeth back in and make it worse. Perhaps it's a bad idea; he knows it'll make the mark more obvious, but he can't find it in himself to care. Especially not when Lance shivers and grips him tighter. Or when Keith can tell his hard breathing is to stop himself from reacting to Keith sucking on his neck. He can pass the hickey off as an accident if Lance accuses him afterwards, but he finds he also doesn't care if Lance knows the truth, either. 

  
  
  


Lance ends up staying in Keith's room after he's done. They don't talk much, but just sitting (laying, in Lance’s case) is nice too. Maybe this will be a part of their routine too. 

  
  


****

  
  


“Accident, my ass.” Lance grumbles as he holds a freezing spoon to the side of his neck. He had been secretly thrilled when he seen the mark Keith left, but letting it stay wasn't an option. He had been wearing higher collars to hide the bite marks but none went high enough to hide the discolored area that covered far more skin that just the two holes in his neck. Without any excuse for having a  _ fucking hickey, really keith,  _ he tries his best to get his skin back to normal. 

 

Meaning sneaking into the kitchen and shoving a handful of spoons into the freezer so he could take one out to replace the one he was using before when it loses it's cold temperature. This is also probably bad for his skin, but it's not like he can risk putting makeup on it when he still has a wound on his neck. 

 

Sure, Keith's bite marks seem to heal quicker than any injury he's had before, but it still takes a couple days to be back to normal. So frozen spoons it is. That dumb bastard. After everything Lance has done for him, too. This must have been Keith getting back at him for being so damn nosy. 

 

Lance half sighs-half groans loudly as he rubs his neck to get some warmth back before opening to freezer to grab another spoon. 

 

“Late night snack?” A voice sound behind him and he slams the door shut to hide the excessive amount of silverware. 

 

“Haha! Yea!” Lance stiffly turns to face Allura who doesn't look at him as she makes her way to the cupboard to pull out some dishes. “What, uh, what are you doing up so late?” 

 

“Oh, Pidge and I have been working on some old Altean technology to get it to work properly. We seem to have lost track of time, however. I came to get a snack for us before going to bed.”

 

“That's cool!” Lance's voice cracks and Allura finally looks up at him, obviously curious. 

 

“Lance, are you feeling alright?” Her eyes narrow as she looks him over and Lance prays to any Space Gods out there that she can't see his neck from where she's standing. 

 

“Of course, Princess! Just woke up hungry. I'll see you at breakfast!” Lance turns towards the door to leave but halts when Allura calls his name, sounding genuinely worried.

 

“Are you  _ sure _ ? You've been acting strange since the underwater base mission, if you're still not well from that attack we need to-”

 

“Allura, I promise I'm fine.” He turns his head a bit to smile at her and it's convincing enough that she visibly relaxes. Probably because it  _ is  _ the truth. He may be a bit light headed still, and just a tiny bit confused, but he's doing good. “I just need to get some more rest. Don't stay up too much later and make sure Pidge falls asleep before you or they won't go to bed at all.” 

Lance gives her one last smile before turning back around and finally leaving. She doesn't say anything else to him but he can hear her opening the freezer once he gets into the hallway and her quiet confused little “ _ spoons?” _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is so short compared to the first 2 chapters and im rlly sorry. I was just gonna do like 4 chapters with 6-7000 words each but im havin a hard time with some personal stuff n havent had the energy to write a lot.  
> This is basically just a lil filler chapter n itll pick up more with plot in the next chapter once i feel better.   
> Also, question: do you guys want to see more interactions with the other characters or should i not worry about it as much? I always feel bad leaving everyone out so i try to write in interactions with them but im too fixated on klance and i feel like it comes out awkward and forced. Please leave a comment to let me know abt that to helo out with this fic and also others im trying to/going to write. 
> 
> Also pt.2: i deleted Krayduh so my tumblr is now Whinegummy! Feel free to send me little writing prompts since short oneshots always help me practice writing and get my motivation up !
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! I hope to get the next chapter up in a couple weeks!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A kiss and a death

“Hey, did you know I stole my Ma's car once?” 

 

“You… what?” Keith looks down at Lance, who's been laying in his bed silently for the past half a varga or so. Keith thought he had fell asleep like he's been doing immediately after their “feeding times”, but apparently not. 

 

“Yea, my friend had an emergency and needed a ride but I wasn't allowed to drive without my sister with me because I only had my permit. And since she wasn't home I just… took the car without telling anyone. My friend was alright but I got grounded for two months.” Lance pouts at the ceiling but he still looks amused at the memory. 

 

“Okay, so… why are you telling me this?” Keith raises an eyebrow at him and Lance grins back. 

 

“Just thought it'd be cool to share stuff with each other, y'know? Know each other a little better n all that junk.”

 

“Oh.” Keith shifts his gaze to the wall, thinking, and the room is silent again for a few doboshes before he decides, what the hell. Getting to know Lance better has been a goal of his for a while and he's smart enough to know that's a two way street. “I stole Shiro's car.”

 

“ _ Seriously!?”  _ Lance props himself up on his elbows, moving slowly since he's still dizzy, and his grin only gets brighter.

 

“Ha, yeah. The first day we met, actually. He ended up bailing me out of jail and getting me into The Garrison.”

 

“And adopting you.” Lance notes before flopping back down. He lets out a long groan and glares at Keith. “I can't believe I had to do everyone's chore for two months while you got  _ praised _ for doing the same shit I did. That's unfair, dude.”

 

“Hey, if you have any issues with it, take it up with Shiro, not me.”

 

“Oh, I  _ will.  _ I'm gonna make sure you finally get the punishment you deserve for stealing a car. Have fun scraping dried food-goo out of bowls for the next two months. And don't forget to roll your sleeves up when you clean the healing pods, that grease stains like a bitch.”

 

Keith laughs and finally nudges him over so he can lay down beside him, pretending to ignore the press of their shoulders together. “Yea, whatever. Don't act like you won't feel bad after a week and insist you help me with everything.” 

 

Lance doesn't reply to that and Keith takes it as a victory. Punishment evaded. Hell yeah. 

 

“So,” He pauses for a few ticks, trying to think of more topics because, even though Lance is the one who brought up knowing each other better, Keith still wants to put in effort as well, “what do you miss the most about Earth?”

 

“My family.” Lance answers without hesitation and Keith doesn't know why he asked in the first place. Lance's homesickness is no secret, and everyone knows how deep it runs in him.  

 

“Hm.” Keith glances at him and is relieved to see a fond smile on his face, albeit a bit wobbly, instead of the usual pained expression he gets when his family is brought up. “I think I miss Earth's night sky. The skies on all these alien planets are beautiful, it's just…”

 

“Not  _ ours.”  _ Lance finishes for him and he nods. Keith had thought traveling the galaxy would be cool- and it  _ is,  _ but he misses seeing the same stars his dad and him used to gaze at together for hours every night. Makes him feel even farther away from his dad than ever. 

 

Keith opens his mouth to ask another question but it comes out as a startled gasp when Lance rearranges himself before laying down again,  _ on  _ him this time. Lance's head is on his chest, his hand curled up in Keith's shirt, but the thing that makes his heart beat the fastest is the feel of Lance's soft hair tickling the bottom of his chin. He doesn't hesitate to lean his head down to press against Lance, breathing out a sigh of contentment when Lance readjusts himself, scooting higher up an inch or two so Keith doesn't have to tilt his neck forward too much. 

 

Slowly- because he's admittedly scared and doesn't know how to  _ do this-  _ he brings his hand up to rest on Lance's back. Lance snuggles even closer into him and he breathes out a curse that Lance is nice enough to ignore. Keith is nice enough to ignore how loud and fast Lance's heart is beating- although his is probably doing the same. He  _ isn't  _ nice enough to ignore the subtle shake of Lance's body and how he tries his best to cover a sniffle up with a cough.

 

“What's wrong?” Keith whispers into the top of Lance's head and holds him a little bit tighter.

 

“I miss them.” His voice cracks horribly and Keith suddenly feels like his heart is breaking just as much as Lance's.

 

“You'll see them again, I promise. I'll make sure I get you back home to them as soon as possible.”

 

“What if… what if something happens and I-”

 

“ _ Lance.  _ I would never break a promise to you. And I  _ promise  _ you will see your mom again, if it's the last thing I ever do.” 

 

Lance nods but stays silent for a few dobosh while he collects himself before changing the subject.

 

“What's your favorite color?” Lance whispers into his chest, his voice is still shaky but much calmer. 

 

“Uh- orange probably? Like sunset orange, not obnoxious bright orange. Yours?” 

 

“Blue, obviously. I was practically  _ made  _ for the Blue Lion. Unlike you, you fake  _ Red _ Paladin.”

 

“Right, right. No doubt.” Keith takes a deep breath to calm himself before continuing their get-to-know-you-better thing. “Did you have hobbies on Earth?”

 

“Mostly video games, I guess. I was in track and swim teams until I got into the Garrison, though. You? Besides knives?”

 

“Mainly fixed up old bikes. I also draw, I guess. That's about it.”

 

Lance shifts to prop his chin on Keith's chest so he can look at him. The rims of his eyes are red but they look happy again and his smile seems to be back as if nothing had happened. As if he wasn't about to say he might die before seeing his family again. “Can you show me some of your art sometime?”

 

And  _ damn him,  _ because there's no way he  _ doesn't  _ know that Keith can't refuse him if he's looking at him with those stupidly pretty blue eyes. 

 

“Yea.”

 

“Cool.” Lance looks at him for a moment and Keith can't breathe until he shifts and lays back down on his chest.

 

They go back and forth with their questions for a while longer until Lance's replies come slower and slower and he's falling asleep on Keith. He probably should have asked him to move to the other side of the bed, but Lance is obviously comfortable and what kind of person would Keith be if he made Lance move? He doesn't mind giving up his personal space for the sake of Lance. Not one bit. 

  
  


He doesn't know how soon after he fell asleep as well, but when Allura's voice over the speakers  wake them up, announcing dinner is ready, he generously doesn't make any comments about the horrible state of his shirt- more wrinkled than it's ever been due to Lance's death grip and a large spot of drool on his chest. It's gross, yea, but Keith wouldn't mind it happening again. 

  
  


Lance gets out of the bed first, having to get off of Keith in order for him to also get up. He holds his hand out to help Keith stand. His hands are as gentle and smooth as Keith remembers, and when they show too much hesitance to let go, his own hand tightens around Lance's. He doesn't know when he had become less nervous with these things, with Lance, but he's more than happy to shove his fears away and smile at Lance before walking to the dining room together, holding hands until they reach the doors.

  
  
  


****

 

It's been slow in terms of missions and battles the past week or so. So slow that everyone is on edge, too caught up in the thought that it's  _ too quiet  _ on the Galras’ end and that  _ something  _ bad is about to happen. They spend a lot of their time waiting for any information from the BOM, but they don't have anything worthwhile to give them, either.

 

The only upside to this is being able to spend time with each other and help their bond as a team. Even if Keith tends to get too frustrated because he doesn't understand a damn thing Pidge says when he tries to help them with their projects- which is annoyingly all they want to do so it's the only way he can spend time with them. Seriously, can't they just take a break for  _ five minutes  _ to do something  _ Keith  _ wants to do? It's not like their computers are going to vanish if they leave their lab. 

  
  


“Stop making that face.” Pidge says while glaring at him. “I'm not forcing you to help me. You could always go find Lance instead of whining in here.”

 

“What  _ face _ ? Why would I want to hang out with Lance instead? I don't know what-”

 

“Oh shut up.” Pidge pushes the small piece of technology away from them, some sort of spy device they won't let Keith even think about touching. “You've been pouting for the past varga, dude. It's really bringin’ my vibe down.”

 

“Okay first off, I don't pout. And second, what does that have to do with Lance?”

 

They narrow their eyes in confusion this time instead of annoyance. “Aren't you two like… dating? I thought that's why you're so pouty… because you're here with me and not Lance.”

 

It takes Keith a few ticks too long to understand Pidge's words and when he does he inhales so hard he chokes. “ _ Dating?  _ What the _ fuck,  _ Pidge! Why would you think we're dating!?” 

 

“I don't know!” They throw their arms up in the air and their face looks so shocked at this information that Keith would have laughed if it was about anything other than  _ dating Lance.  _ “Maybe because you're always with each other now! Plus he's in your room a lot now too so I just figured-”

 

“Wait, how do you know about that?”

 

“Keith, all of our rooms are in the same hallway. And there  _ are  _ cameras in the castle.”

 

“Whatever.” Keith huffs and turns away, picking up one of Pidges tools to fidget with before they can knock it out of his reach. “We're not dating, though.” He hates how quiet his voice comes out- how  _ sad,  _ because it obviously gives  _ something  _ away about how he feels about that fact if the look Pidge is giving him is anything to go off of. 

 

“Wow, okay. Sorry for assuming, I guess.” They warrily eye the object Keith's holding as if he's going to break it before sighing and turning back to the spyware. “Do you wanna help now?”

 

“ _ Really? _ ” Keith perks up at that, they haven't let him actually help with anything besides passing them tools for the past two varga.

 

“Yea, can you go collect the rest of the tablets? I need to sync them up to this camera.”

 

“Oh. Why can't you go get them?” 

 

“And leave you in here with all my stuff? Alone? Seriously, I would probably let Lance in here unsupervised before I let you. At least  _ he _ understands I don't hold anything back if you break something.  _ You,  _ though,” They pointedly look towards the last spy camera they had made, lying broken in the corner since Keith had forgot to activate it and dropped it without the fancy Pidge-Designed-Hovertech turned on.  Aka- the reason he's not aloud to touch a single thing. 

 

He throws his head back and groans before standing up. “Fine, whatever. You want me to get all six?” 

 

“Ideally, yea. I only have a couple cameras ready and synced to my tablet, but it'd be best if all of our tablets had the software to control them set up.”

 

“Sure thing.” Keith sighs as leaves the room. He really doesn't want to roam around looking for everyone's individual tablets, but Pidge'll probably lock him out of the lab if he doesn't do something helpful for once.

 

He grabs his first since he already knew where he had left it, and Allura's and Corans are always in the control room so he gets those next before finding Shiro and having to pry his tablet from him like a father taking his childs toy away. It's frustrating at first but at the same time ironic and makes Keith laugh a little because, seriously? When did their roles switch so much? 

 

He doesn't have a chance to find Hunk's before he gets sidetracked far too easily.

 

When he reaches the rec room he almost completely forgets what he went there for in the first place because right there, leaning back on one of the couches is Lance; the most efficient distraction from anything important. Based on his lack of acknowledgement at someone else entering the room, Keith figures he fell asleep. 

 

Slowly, as if he's afraid to wake him, Keith walks further into the room and sets his stack of tablets on the coffee table before he sits down on the couch across from Lance. He feels a bit awkward, if not creepy, for just watching him sleep, but he can't help it. Lance hardly ever sits still long enough for Keith to look at him- really,  _ truly  _ look at him. He's tried sneaking subtle glances here and there, but it never calms his want to take it all in so he never forgets a single detail. Lance has always been beautiful to him, but being able to carefully map out specifics in his head brings it to a whole new level.

 

There are bits and pieces that Keith has never had the chance to focus on because he's never been able to look at the individual aspects. Like-- the exact shape and specific color of his lips that are hard to look away from. The gentle curve of the bridge of his nose. The single scar he has on his, otherwise flawless, face, above his lip. Which, actually… Keith can now almost make out the tell-tale indents of what  _ seems  _ to be a healed eyebrow piercing. He wouldn't doubt it if Lance had done it himself at home, overly excited and ready to show it off only to have his mother freak out and make him remove it once she found out. Or maybe he had to take it out when he joined the Garrison? He'll have to ask later. 

 

Keith leans his elbow on the arm of the couch and holds his chin up with a fist as he continues to note different things about Lance. He wishes his eyes were open so he could count how many different shades are in them. Another time, he supposes. At least now it's easier to attempt counting his freckles- although some are too close together or too light to make out how many are actually there.

 

Eventually, after an indefinite amount of time, his eyes make their way down, following the angle of his jawline until he reaches the clear expanse of skin covering Lance's neck; tilted just enough for Keith to get a  _ very nice  _ look. His eyes dilate and he has an even harder time looking away than he did with Lance’s lips.

 

It's… not at all surprising when he realizes why he's so attentive to the shape of Lance's neck (the slight curve as he leans his head against the back of the couch, the skin that he _knows_ is remarkably soft, the few freckles at the bottom of his neck that Keith is sure matches perfectly to some random alien constellation they haven't seen yet but he will be able to recognize instantly due to how long he's been staring at it on Lance's skin.) It's not because he's hungry- not because he wants to sink his teeth into it, but because he aches to kiss it, slow and gentle so Lance can't forget what Keith's lips feel like on his skin either. Keith wants to know just how perfectly his lips would mold to the dip at the base of his neck, wants to know how Lance would react- how many different noises he can drag out of him as he marks as much of his skin as possible. As much of it as Lance would allow him. 

 

He knows what it's like to have his lips against Lance's skin when he's eating, and knows that Lance grips onto him tight when Keith  _ sucks.  _ But it's frustrating that he's only had the chance to when he drinks from Lance. There is a huge difference (to Keith, at least) between gently biting into Lance's skin to drink his blood-- versus gently biting into Lance's skin (without his fangs) to leave a more intimate mark than two tiny holes that will be healed after a day. There is a huge difference between doing it out of necessity versus out of want. 

 

And right now, he  _ wants.  _ Though he would be lying if he said he hadn't wanted to before now.

 

His eyes slowly make a path back up Lance's neck until he reaches his jaw once more-- lingers for a long moment because he'd die again for the chance to leave little love bites there as well-- then landing back on his lips. And-  _ oh _ , Keith has spent countless hours, possibly adding up to days, maybe weeks if he decides to be honest with himself, thinking of  _ him kissing Lance _ , but he's never thought of  _ Lance kissing him  _ before. Which is a shame because Lance probably has the softest lips in the universe- known and unknown- and Keith can only imagine how nice they would feel pressed against his skin. 

 

Thoughts of kissing Lance's neck are pushed aside in favor of thoughts of having Lance's lips on his skin instead. Keith is positive Lance would find it so amusing, knows without a doubt he would crack a few jokes about  _ a human biting a vampire's neck.  _ And then Keith would laugh as well because he's weak and secretly loves Lance's dorky jokes even if they're not actually funny sometimes.

 

Or maybe, Keith thinks, Lance would do something cheesy like kiss the back of his hand. The inside of his wrist. Drag his lips up Keith's arm to leave a trail of kisses until he reaches his shoulder. Keith shivers, almost violently, when he can  _ feel  _ the phantom touch of lingering kisses on the back of his neck. Down his spine and maybe on his sides. He smiles when he thinks how Lance would  _ absolutely  _ act all flirty while he kisses down Keith's chest before blowing an obnoxious raspberry into his stomach. 

 

Keith smiles when he thinks of all the dumb,  _ cute, perfect,  _ things he can imagine Lance doing with someone he loves. Smiles wider when he thinks that- hey, maybe that'll be me one day. It doesn't feel as unobtainable as it had a almost a year ago. They  _ hang out now _ . Lance had  _ held his hand!  _ They  _ nap together!  _ He just wishes he had known sooner what all those fond smiles and light touches Lance gave him had meant so they didn't have to pretend for so lo-

 

"If you're thinking of snacking on him, you might wanna wait till he's awake" Pidge's voice calls from the door.   
  
Keith turns around and slams his hands on the back of the couch so he can pull himself up to see them better, moving so fast it startles Pidge and a bit of the coffee they’re holding sloshes over the edge of the mug.   
  
"Excuse me!?”   
  
"I  _ said,”  _ they throw a low effort glare his way as they use the edge of their shirt to dry the outside of the mug and their hand, "if you're thinking of mackin’ on him, wait until he's actually awake. Y'know, instead of staring holes into him while he naps.  _ Jeez, _ keith.”

 

“Oh, right… Sorry, I thought you said something else.” Keith settles back into the couch but pointedly avoids staring at Lance again. It takes him a few ticks to register what he came here for and he whips his head back towards Pidge who's now walking further into the room. “Fuck, Pidge, I totally forgot about the tablets, I'm sorry.”

 

“No worries.” they waves their hand dismissively as they reach the end table that Lance has his on and start going through it. “But just so you know, catching you creeping on Lance doesn't help your case at all. Still firmly believe you two are swapping spit.”

 

Keith just sputters, unable to form complete words as his face heats up to dangerous, borderline pathetic, levels.

 

“Aaaaanyways, thanks for not getting distracted by a cute boy and bringing me the rest of the  tablets,” they say, laying the sarcasm on thicker than necessary, “I gotta go finish sorting everything so I'll see you two later.” they both nod at each other before Pidge turns to leave, picking up the tablets he collected on their way out, and Keith can't stop himself from automatically looking back at Lance now that their attention is off of him.

 

The door behind him whooshes loudly but Keith doesn't pay it any mind; his focus is too far gone on soft skin and those pretty lips that-

 

Those pretty lips that open to whisper out his name and Keith feels like his entire body is in flames, thinking Lance is dreaming of him until he looks up and sees his eyes are open, having been woken by Keith's conversation with Pidge. He's vaguely surprised he's not embarrassed at getting getting caught staring at Lance. He says Keith's name again, a question to get his attention, and before Keith can register what he's doing, he's already on the other couch. 

 

Lance gasps as Keith suddenly appears in front of him- over him, caging Lance against the arm of the couch and leaning closer. He doesn't hesitate to move his head to the side so Keith can have better access to his neck and Keith can't help but hum in satisfaction. 

 

“Are you hungry again? It's only been a few days. I mean- not that I mind at all I just-” Lance cuts himself off when he feels Keith's nose gently press against his skin. He squirms a little at the contact and then again a bit harder when Keith sighs against his skin, causing goosebumps to raise at the feeling of Keith's hot breath on his neck.

 

Keith brings his teeth out to drag along Lance's neck, teasing him with the feel of sharp edges along his skin. He can feel Lance swallow deeply before letting out a shaky breath. Keith has never felt more daring in his life as he looks up at Lance's face to catch his reaction as his tongue replaces his teeth, licking up the side of Lance's smooth neck. Lance's eyes squeeze tighter and his lips part in shock, letting out a quiet “ _ oh”.  _

 

“I'm not hungry.” Keith states, although he's sure it's pretty obvious at this point that he's not in Lance's lap for a meal. Well… not for _blood._ He lets his own eyes close as he sucks on Lance's neck, focusing on the furious beating of both of their hearts that are almost in perfect sync. He loves it; this effect he has on Lance. He should have done this _ages ago._

 

It's alright, though. It's more than worth the agonising wait to get Lance under him like this as he trails kisses up and up until he reaches Lance's jaw- his cheek, his nose, his forehead, everywhere. Then all over and over and over again until Lance  _ giggles  _ at the amount of face kisses he's receiving and then Keith is brushing against the corner of Lance's lips. 

 

“Is this okay?” Keith whispers there, against his warm skin, and gives a ghost of a kiss. So gentle that Lance has to catch his breath. He barely nods before slowly turning his head so Keith's lips are right over his. Neither hesitate from there. As soon as their lips touch they're both pressing forward with intense need, hands grabbing at whatever part of the other is closest and pulling. They're as close as they can be but it doesn't seem to be enough. 

 

Keith's thoughts race from one to another in quick, dizzying secession. Ranging from  _ god, his lips are so soft.  _ To  _ wow ‘one day’ ended up being way sooner than I thought,  _ and  _ not soon enough  _ and  _ not enough, not close enough.  _ And then Lance's arms are completely around Keith's back and it feels  _ almost  _ close enough, but he's been starved for this for months- they both have- so is anything ever really going to be  _ just enough?  _ Probably not for a while, he thinks. Not until they're able to make up all the time they've spent dancing around each other. 

 

He sucks Lance's bottom lip into his mouth and just barely catches the beginning if a moan before the castle alarms go off and Lance is pushing him off with wide eyes and shaky hands.

 

He stares at Keith for a few ticks, looking so scared and confused that Keith forgets the alarms going off are real and  _ not  _ in his head because now all he can think is  _ shit, please don't regret this.  _ Lance doesn't say anything as he quickly gets off the couch and they both run to get their armor 

  
  


******

Keith is not dumb. Far from it, actually. He knows what his feelings are and he knows that they are reciprocated. But he's not dumb so he also knows that attempting anything is a bad idea. Moreso for Lance than himself; he can't think of a single con of being with Lance. He can not give Lance everything he deserves. He still has issues with giving affection most days, no matter how hard he tries. He still gets angry too quick and is still frustrated more often than not. He is still broken and traumatized from things of the past. He is still trying to find ways to make himself good enough.   
  
But he is still a monster, and he is still dangerous.    
  
And now the rest of the team knows.   
  
And Lance does not deserve this.    
  
  


*****

  
  
  
  


The battle starts out as well as they usually do but escalates faster than any of them could prepare for. Keith isn't hungry yet, so he is more than capable of going off on his own to free the prisoners. Which is his first mistake. 

 

The second mistake is the team getting to the control room too late and another fleet of Galra show up, doubling their opponents strength and lowering theirs drastically. 

 

Keith doesn't know what had happened, due to running off on his own and ending up trapped on the other side of the base, but he knows it is not good in the least. There are screams coming from the coms in his helmet, loud enough to block out the sounds of fighting, and he struggles with himself to keep them on. Listening to his friends,  _ his family,  _ getting attacked while he is not there to help them is nauseating and it feels as if his blood is boiling with anger. 

 

He hears Lance scream before calling out his name; more of a broken sob mixed with fear and the intensity if it almost makes Keith's knees buckle. He wills his muscles to move faster, faster, he  _ knows he can move faster than this, goddammit,  _ but there are Galra shaped obstacles in his way and no matter how strong he is, taking down 20-plus Galra and sentries solo takes time. Which he is greatly lacking the longer the screams continue. Even more so when Lance goes silent.

Perhaps, he thinks when he finally makes it to his team, it would have been best if he hadn't made it at all. 

 

They're beaten and battered and two are laying in a corner, out of commission. They probably all should be down from exhaustion alone but that is not an option. Hunk and Shiro have managed to keep the Galra away from the other two, who Keith freezes when he sees. Pidge is hurt worse than he's ever seen them. Their leg is visibly broken and there is a stream of blood coming from their head- their helmet laying next to them in favor of pressing Lance's also unprotected head against their cheek while they sob. 

 

He hears Shiro shouting his name when he finally notices Keith in the doorway, desperate and broken as if he's sobbing as well for his family. 

 

It brings him back to reality and therefore back to to the list of mistakes. 

 

There is a mix of roughly a dozen Galra soldiers and Sentries left and as soon as he sees one aim their gun at Pidge he more or less blacks out with rage. He can vaguely register that he's fighting but everything happens too quick for himself, let alone his conscious teammates, to completely register what is happening. When Keith finishes off the last sentry, his sword is no longer in his hand, left buried in some enemy. There is blood covering his entire left forearm where he now remembers shoving it through one of their chests after ditching his bayard.

 

The room is silent save for the Paladins’ heavy breathing and a few whimpers from Pidge and Lance, who now regain his focus. Pidge doesn't even seem to care about their leg in the least. Not when Lance is slouched on the ground like that with a scorching blast wound in his shoulder and skin far too pale for someone living. 

 

“Lance-!” Keith tries to get to him but before he can make it another step, a hand reaches out to hold him back. “Shiro, let  _ go of me!”  _ He screams, hating himself so  _ fucking much  _ for the lack of energy he's feeling when it's most important. 

 

Shiro looks like he can't decide if he's more concerned or scared over Keith's appearance; sharp fangs and ( _ reflective)  _ purple eyes. His nails seem way sharper than usual as well which would shock Keith, too, as  _ that  _ hasn't happened before, if he weren't so caught up in the fact that Lance is  _ dying _ and Shiro won't let him  _ help.  _

 

“Let.  _ Go. _ of me.” Keith repeats, a hateful growl more than anything that causes Shiro's grip to falter enough for him to tug his arm away and rush to Lance's side. 

 

His eyes are closed tight but they open slightly when Keith cups Lance's face in his hand. “Lance? Lance, I'm here. Can you say something?” His words are rushed, trying not to waste anymore time. Lance nods (more of a twitch, really) but doesn't say anything. His eyes slip shut again and Keith almost wails. 

 

“Lance! Come on, you have to wake up!” Keith can feel the tears on his cheeks now but pays as much attention to them as he does the hands trying to pull him away again. That is to say, none at all. The only thing that could tear his focus away from Lance is his own, second, death. 

 

“Wanna go home.” Lance mumbles, so weak and so quiet. 

 

“Yea! Yeah, Lance, come on. I'm gonna take you home now, okay? You just have to try holding on when i pick you up. We gotta get you to the Lion and then we'll go home!” Keith tries his best to wiggle his arms underneath Lance, thankful that there's no sword to be wary of this time. It seems to be the only semi-positive thing about this.

 

“No,” Lance brings a shaky hand up to try pushing Keith away. “Wanna go home to my mama. She's waiting for me, I gotta go.” 

 

“Lance,  _ please!”  _ Keith bends over and sobs into Lance's uninjured shoulder. “I promised I'll get you home, okay? You just have to work with me, here. We gotta get you to the castle then I can bring you home.”

 

Lance relaxes as much as someone with a burning hole in their body can, and Keith uses it to his advantage; finally getting his arms under Lance and lifting him up. It doesn't go as smoothly as that the rest of the way. 

 

“Right  _ now _ , Keith.” Lance lets out a wrecked sob and his whole body twitches in pain as he tries to get out of Keith's grips once again. “I gotta go home right now!”

 

Keith tries his best to ignore Lance's cries and Shiro's panicked attempts to figure out what's wrong with  _ Keith.  _ His eyes are still purple and his fangs are still sharp and cutting into his lip too hard and Shiro is still  _ scared.  _

 

Ignoring Shiro is easier than ignoring the boy in his arms though, as Lance's cries for his mom get louder, more hysterical, and his attempts to push away from Keith get weaker. And he  _ knows  _ what it means, but God, he doesn't want to think about how little time he has. 

 

“I need my mama! I can't die before I see her again!” Every sentence is punctuated by another sob, another groan, anything that vocalizes how much physical and emotion pain he is in. It just makes Keith feel like ripping his own stomach to shreds with how nauseous it's making him.

 

“You're not going to die, Lance!” Keith yells, but anyone within earshot can tell even he doesn't believe it.

 

“ _ Please.”  _ His voice comes out quiet again, but full of more hurt than his screams. “Take me  _ home _ , Keith, you  _ promised _ .” 

 

It's the last thing he says. His heart is still beating,  _ so slow,  _ and his breaths are still coming out in pained gasps, but he has either screamed himself out or he is unconscious. Keith lets out another loud sob- bordering on just a scream, as he finally makes it out of the base and towards the Red Lion's mouth that hasn't finished opening yet.

 

Hunk is carrying Pidge, them having passed out somewhere along the line, but hands them off to Shiro before he runs into the Black Lion so he can follow Keith and Lance. 

 

Keith is laying Lance on the ground when Hunk enters, the Lion's mouth closing after him and taking off on autopilot towards the castle right away. Blue is behind them, sending out painful cries for her Paladin that Keith ignores and pushes into the back of his head. 

 

He's frantically trying to rip apart medical gauze in their first aid kits to press against the wound but it doesn't seem to help much. It's too wide and deep of an injury, covering his whole left shoulder and most of his chest. The blood quickly soaks through the gauze but Keith doesn't let up the pressure. 

 

“Keith-!” Hunk drops to the floor beside them and tries to help but is only pushed away. 

 

“It's not- it's not  _ stopping!”  _ Keith cries out, pressing harder, enough that it causes Lance to cry out as well even in his passed out state. 

 

“You're hurting him even more!” Hunk tries to yank Keith away but is pushed off once more. “We're almost to the castle! He's going to make it!” And then softer, with less confidence, “He  _ has _ to make it.”

 

Keith only grunts in reply before freezing up entirely because Lance chokes out and now there's blood coming out of his mouth and Keith can barely feel a heartbeat. 

 

He panics even more because he  _ can't  _ lose Lance. Not now, not ever. He still has to bring him back home. That's the only thing that matters in this whole war to him right now- getting Lance back home, safe.  _ Alive.  _

 

As alive as he  _ can  _ be. After dying the first time. 

 

He would claim to not be thinking, if anyone were to ever ask him, when he lurches forward and bites Lance with more force than he even meant to use, but he knows it's not true. 

 

Keith is selfish, even if this is  _ for Lance,  _ when all he can think is that if he is actually able to turn someone, he hopes on every star that exists that it works for Lance. 

 

Lance who makes _everyone_ around him feel so much more alive than anything in the universe. Lance who doesn't deserve _this,_ but he sure as hell doesn't deserve to die and not come back _at all._

  
  


Hunk screams, sounding more angry than distraught, and tries to pull Keith off of his best friend again. He finally manages to get him off Lance, forcing Keith's teeth out of Lance's neck a bit roughly and opening the wound more. 

 

“What the fuck are you  _ doing _ !?” He's definitely angry; seething at the fact that, in his eyes, Keith is  _ hurting Lance even more. Causing Lance even more pain.  _

 

But he's  _ not!  _ He's trying to save Lance but it doesn't have a chance at working if he doesn't get back and finish, so he shoves Hunk away with enough strength to send him a few feet away and jumps back to Lance. He holds onto him tighter and tries to get as much saliva on the puncture wounds as possible. 

 

It's gross and there's too much blood and spit but Keith is desperate to make it work so he doesn't stop. Not when Hunk starts screaming louder. Not when he's back at trying to tug Keith away. Not when Shiro joins in over the coms. 

 

Not when they land in the castle. 

 

And not when he can't feel Lance's heart at all. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter left lol
> 
> Also fun fact: the part where Pidge walked in on Keith staring @ Lance and he thought they asked if he was planning on "snacking" on him was the v first part i though if for this fic. In my notes he accidentally outed himself that way bc he asked how they knew he was a vampire and was feeding on lance

**Author's Note:**

> Who know actually editing things can make you LIKE your writing? amazing. gotta start doin' that more often.   
> 2nd chapter coming sometime next week <3 gotta update my prince au then write it lmao
> 
> Lemme know what you think!! 
> 
> Tumblr- Krayduh


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